Youthful Appearances
by extraordinary geek
Summary: An accident leaves a team member in a different state. Now he has to rely on his friends as he copes with the consequences and as they search for those responsible.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Hello to all readers, please read this first! This piece of work is very different from my other stories. This story deals with a person getting younger, even though I will make this person younger I will try to keep them in cannon. It is merely fantasy and would never happen in real life, however I will try to keep things as realistic as possible. If this is not the type of story you want to read then please do not read more.

Other than that if you are still interested please read and review. :)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own NCIS or any of the characters.

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><p>McGee let out an exasperated grunt. It was too early in the morning for Tony to start, and he hadn't even had coffee yet. While not as well-known as Gibbs need for the addicting drink, McGee's need for Coffee was also known. Without Coffee in the morning he would not be himself. He needed that delicious drink to help him handle whatever life threw at him. Unfortunately fate decided to not be kind that morning.<p>

Ring…Ring…Ring

Who could that be? Picking up the phone he answered. "Special Agent Timothy McGee"

"Timothy?" Mrs. Richardson? Why was she calling?

"I'm sorry Tim I thought you had been informed but when you didn't come I knew you hadn't been informed it was just so unlike you." She rambled on in a very hurried voice.

"Mrs. Richardson what's wrong?" He had liked her; she lived right next door to his parents and had been their neighbor for as long as he could remember.

"Oh God, you really don't know" She sounded distraught and Tim wondered what could have happened for her to become like that.

"What don't I know?" He spoke to her in what he hoped was a soothing tone of voice.

"I'm so sorry Tim but your parents are dead."

Tim felt all the air leave him. Surely he had heard her wrong.

"I'm so sorry; I really thought that you had been informed. It was a car crash and well they didn't make it." She went on.

"When did this happen?" he was desperate to know when. His life was going to get thrown off balance what with funeral arrangements and wills and…

"Last week."

"What!" That was definitely not what he had been expecting.

"Your Aunt Jackie decided to take over all the funeral arrangements and burial process; I really thought that she had told you." She sounded like she was about to cry. Tim being the gentle spirited person that he was could not stand to hear her cry or blame herself.

"It's ok; I believe you and thank you for telling me." He was sincerely grateful that she had told him. It was better than calling his parents and then being told months later that they had died.

Hanging up Tim somberly walked back to his desk. Quietly he went back to work, forgetting about his absent cup of coffee.

He worked quietly in peaceful silence until Tony came back from MTAC.

"Hey McGoogle Boss wants you to look up the petty officer's finances"

Tim nodded. He was too numb to do anything else.

"Are you Okay McGee?" Ziva had noticed that something was wrong with McGee. Ever since that phone call he had received he had come back all gloomy and depressed.

"I'm fine Ziva" His flat tone of voice however indicated otherwise, but she decided to leave it alone.

At lunch time McGee grabbed his jacket and bag and nearly ran out the door. Meanwhile Ziva looked on with concern.

"I believe something is wrong with McGee Tony." Ziva called out as soon as McGee had left.

Tony had also been watching Probie and had also known something was up as soon as he had come back from MTAC.

"I know, what happened while I was gone?" it was reasonable to conclude that something had happened while he was gone. Before Tim had been annoyed but now he was devastated.

Ziva told him about the phone call Tim had received and how whoever had called had left upsetting news. The ringing of a phone broke them from their thoughts. Looking over they noticed that it was McGee's phone that was ringing.

"Hello" Tony answered.

"Tony what are you doing?" Ziva hissed, angry that he had answered McGee's phone.

"What if it's something important" he told her and turned his attention back to Tim's phone. Curiosity won over and Ziva walked over to Tony and listened to the person on the phone.

"Tim?" A female voice asked. Tony's first thought had been that Probie had a girlfriend.

"I'm calling to let you know that if you want to contact Jackie about the burial she changed her number. I think Sarah has it. Again I'm sorry about her not telling you." She talked nonstop not letting Tony or Ziva get a word in.

"Okay well you must be in shock, bye Tim." And with that she hung up. A funeral? Ziva and Tony both wondered who could have died and why Tim hadn't been informed. Worried both decided to keep an eye on him when he came back.

Meanwhile Tim was at his sister's dorm trying to break the news. He had just told and waited for the storm. Sure enough it came and he was left having to comfort his sister. Before he left though, he got more news.

"Tim?" Sarah's voice sounded timid and unsure. This caught his attention; Sarah was always spunky and full of life. Of course with what had just happened he expected her to beat least a bit shaken.

"I-I'm leaving" Her big brother would not like that.

That was totally unexpected. "Huh?"

"I said I'm leaving Tim." Her voice quivered as she said it.

"I heard you; I just don't get what you mean."

"I mean I'm going to go to Wales." Okay, what was with everyone randomly springing up major news at him?

"When?" He hoped she had given him time in advance to know.

Her voice went down so much that she was almost whispering. "In two days."

As he came back from his lunch break Tony and Ziva followed McGee's actions with their gaze. Gibbs noticed this and wondered what was going on. Figuring that if it was something important they would have told him he shrugged it off. If it was still an issue tomorrow, he would talk to them. Meanwhile he would let them work it out.

"Tim what's wrong?" Abby asked McGee as she saw him blankly stare into space.

"Noth…"

"Don't you dare say nothing mister, there is something bothering you and I want to know what." She was not going to accept McGee's lame excuse that everything was fine.

McGee sighed. He could be here all night and it wouldn't make a difference at the end he would end up confessing to Abby. Turning around to face her he bluntly started out.

"My parents are dead." Whatever Abby had been thinking, this was not it. No wonder McGee was so sad and well looking blank.

"Oh Timmy," having said that she rushed up to go hug her Tim. She couldn't believe that he was valiantly sitting there while this was happening. He told her everything, from how he had missed both the funeral and burial, to how his sister was leaving in two days. Wondering what sweet natured McGee could have done to anger the Karma Gods Abby listened to his day.

As soon as he was done he made Abby promise that she wouldn't tell anyone.

"Why not Tim?" she was confused as to why he didn't want the others to know.

"Because Abby, then they will treat me like I'm made of glass and I just want things to be normal. Plus I can't even go visit their grave because I don't even know which cemetery they're buried in." Conceding with his wishes Abby promised that she wouldn't tell the others. They both were unaware that Tony had been listening to their conversation from outside the lab.

After getting back to his desk Tony sat in shock. McGee's parents were the ones who had died? No wonder the poor kid looked sad.

Ziva watched with concern as Tony came back from the lab and quietly sat down at his desk. Silently she got up and went to stand at his desk. "Tony what is wrong?"

"I went to the lab and heard McGee and Abby talking." Tony paused and looked up at her." McGee's parents are the ones who died."

Ziva nodded her head as she processed the information. She knew that family was really important to McGee and now they were gone. "What about Sarah?" She had taken a liking to the young girl even if at the time she was being investigated for murder.

"She's alive, I heard her name mentioned but I didn't heard what they said." Tony answered Ziva's question. Like her, he knew that family was important to McGee and if McGee lost his parents and Sarah he would be a wreck.

When McGee came back to the Bullpen both Tony and Ziva kept an eye on him. Both wondering when the funeral had taken place and why Tim hadn't said anything.

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><p>Please review and give me your thoughts, I would love to hear what you think. :D<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer**: I still don't own NCIS or its characters.

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><p>Tim was tired. Too much was happening and he didn't have time to wrap his head around it all. First his parents' death then his sister randomly leaving, he was overwhelmed.<p>

Getting up to go to work, he felt a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach, his gut. Shaking it off to the stress that had been placed upon him in one day, he shook it off and left for work.

Work had proven to not be much better. As soon as he had gotten comfortable they got a case. So ok he knew that that was his job, but come on. Can't the bad guys give him a break every once in a while. Did they seriously like getting their ass kicked?

"Earth to probie, earth to probie" Something was in front of his face.

"Huh?" McGee shook his head clearing all previous thoughts away.

Tony smirked. "You were off in dreamland."

McGee grumbled about the unfairness of it all. Why were they stuck in stakeout duty? Better yet why was he stuck with Tony of all people? Groaning at the injustice of it all and knowing it was going to be a long day he sat by the window. Tony was talking about one thing or another but he could hardly care. He felt mad and grumpy and generally not in the mood for any of Tony's antics. Why couldn't Gibbs have sent Ziva and Tony, Why him?

Watching McGee sit down on the window ledge, Tony began to annoy him. When nothing happened he stopped. Shrugging he went back to his cell phone and his game of Tetris. If probie didn't want to talk, fine by him. He had an amazing game of Tetris he was playing right now and he was beating the other player. So probie could wait.

After sitting in silence for about four hours Tony got bored. Sure playing on his phone was fun but one could only play a game so long. Sneaking a look at Tim Tony sighed. Probie looked like he was half asleep now so maybe he should wake him up.

"McGee"

"…."

"McGee"

Still no answer.

"McGee!"

"What Tony!" Yikes! What was with McGee anyways? As far as he knew he hadn't done anything to anger his younger teammate.

"Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed probie" His only response was a grunt.

"Oh come on, I'm dying of boredom here McGee."

"Great. As long as I don't have to fill out a report on your death, I've got enough paper work as it is."

"You never have any paperwork McGeek you always finish it." Tony looked thoughtful. "That could be why you don't have a girlfriend."

Turning around to face him Tim glared. Tony got the message and wisely stayed quiet. Never let it be said that he didn't know how to take a clue. After about another half hour Tony got up.

"Do you hear that McGee?" Tony asked using his serious voice. McGee perked up and got off the ledge. He had heard a strange clink too but thought that it was something to do with the pipes. They were stuck in a dingy hotel after all. Both stayed alert listening for a minute when footsteps were heard coming their way. Reaching for their Sigs they turned to the door. They were debating over whether or not to call for backup when the footsteps came closer.

Opening the door they were assaulted with gunfire. Taking cover behind the couch and between the door Tony and McGee began to fire back. Tony couldn't help but think that they should have asked for backup as they tried to fend off four armed men. He had just taken down one guy and was calling Gibbs when he heard McGee's cry of pain.

When McGee had turned his back looking for Tony the other two men got their chance. Coming behind him they held him tight as they dragged him out of the room. Before they covered his mouth he was able to yell out in pain as they punched him. He hoped that Tony had heard him. No sooner had he yelled out than one of his captors grabbed a cloth and placed it over his mouth and nose. Vaguely he recalled Tony calling his name but he couldn't pay attention as the darkness started to consume him and he fell into unconsciousness.

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><p>Upon waking up he felt cold. He also felt rather than saw that he was tied to a chair. Looking around he was surprised to see Tony also slumped down beside him. He didn't appear to be dead but only knocked out. A creak was heard and looking towards the door he saw one of his captors walking in, flanked by the other two following behind him. One of the two went up to Tony and splashed him with a bottle of water. Tony woke up spluttering as the water got into his face.<p>

"What the …" Looking around he noticed his surroundings. Seeing McGee tied up and with a bruise forming on his face he glared. "Well are you going to stand there all day?"

No one paid him any attention as they walked towards McGee. Tony could see that Tim was getting worried and tried to steer their attention away to no avail. The leader of the group circled McGee much like a hawk circled his prey. McGee looked up with defiance in his eyes as he stared them in the face. Both watched as seemed to assess McGee and look him over. Not with the creeper type of look but with a cold medical look over. For some reason that seemed even creepier than the other one. All this was done in silence; the only sound heard for some time was the shuffling of shoes as he walked around.

"He is perfect" Both agents jumped at the unexpected sound. Ever since their capture they hadn't heard anyone speak at all. In reality it was a bit unnerving. As he motioned towards one of their captors they saw him nod and lift up a syringe. As he saw the man with the syringe walk towards him McGee began to struggle against his bonds. Although he knew it was useless Tony also struggled against his bonds, anything to help save his partner from whatever they were going to do to him.

Smiling at the way that both men struggled he flicked the needle and motioned for the others. As soon as they held him down he plunged the needle into Tim's neck.

"Nooo!" Tony watched helpless as the psychos injected who knows what into Tim. When McGee slumped down and started seizing he struggled violently against his bonds.

"What did you psychos do to him?" He yelled out. He just hoped that Gibbs got here before well before something worse happened to McGee.

"Nothing, I do not kill children" He replied with a quiet conviction and honesty that Tony was left speechless for a moment.

He was just about to ask him what he meant when the door burst open.

"NCIS federal agents freeze!" Never had the sight of Gibbs and Ziva been more welcome.

Catching sight of McGee tied to the chair and seizing angered Gibbs. Fortunately they were easily handled and within five minutes they were done and Gibbs rushed over to his agents, leaving Ziva to manage them on her own.

Quickly untying Tony he rushed over to McGee calling Ducky while he was at it. Looking over at his seizing agent he asked Tony what had happened. As he filled him in Gibbs became worried. They could have injected cyanide into McGee for all they knew. As he was pondering those thoughts the seizures stopped only to be replaced by something more horrific, Tim shrank.

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><p><strong>Read and Review :D<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Thank you to all who read and reviewed. Now based on a review that I got, I want to make things clear. First off, I know that McGee's parents are actually not dead but for the purpose of this story I made them dead, if you have read the first chapter you would have known. Second, I do know my facts since I actually do watch NCIS. Other than that, I warned readers beforehand what type of story this would be so if you read the story and think the idea is stupid, I really don't know what to say.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own NCIS or its characters

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><p>Gibbs and Tony watched with a horrified fascination as McGee's body seemed to shrink. Neither knew what to say as they saw Tim start to sink in his clothes until it barely hung onto his frame. Skin seemed to pull tighter and bones seemed to grow smaller. His hair started to change color until it reached an almost angelic blond. After a few minutes everything stopped. Throughout the whole transformation Tim stayed quiet and did not wake up.<p>

Neither man knew what to say or do. Instead of the grown 6'3 frame of agent Timothy McGee, there seemed to be a boy or twelve or thirteen. It was strange seeing the once tall young man now a mere 5'3 and a lot younger. Before either agent could think of what to do though, paramedics swarmed the area and started to take him away.

"Sir, what happened?" One of the young paramedics asked. This seemed to spur Gibbs into action.

"Take him to Bethesda, he had violent seizures and my agent knows the rest" The paramedics nodded loading him onto the ambulance. Tony asked to go with him and they left to go to Bethesda.

Watching them leave Gibbs sighed. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes he wouldn't have believed it. He was sure glad Tony had been with him during the transformation; he would have thought he was crazy otherwise.

In the ambulance Tony was having the same thoughts. How did this happen? More importantly how could this happen? As he was having these thoughts he could barely register that the people in the ambulance were asking him questions. All he could think of was the small boy lying unconscious in front of him. Feeling a shake he got back to his surroundings.

"Sir, do you know his name?"

"Timothy McGee" Tony knew without a doubt that this was Tim, however strange that may be. He knew that there would be a lot of explaining later on, on how this young boy was supposed to be a grown agent, but right now he could care less. All he wanted to know was what had been done to his friend and what could be done to fix this.

Gibbs was not in a good mood, simple as that. As soon as the ambulance had left for Bethesda he had called Ducky and gone to the hospital. Ducky had expressed concern when he heard that McGee was in the hospital but Gibbs wouldn't tell him what it was.

"Just get here Duck, I can't really explain it." Was all he had told him.

Standing in the ER he was now looking for sign of Gibbs or Tony. Seeing neither of them he asked the lady at the desk. "Timothy McGee, Oh he is in the second floor room 212." Thanking her he went off in search of the missing agents. Getting off the elevator he noticed a large sign stating that it was the Pediatric Unit. Thinking it was strange he kept walking in direction of the room number he was given. Looking around he saw several small children and teenagers, thinking he had gotten the wrong number he started to leave. Just as he was about to go back downstairs to the receptionist, he saw Gibbs.

"Jethro; thank goodness I was able to find you. I'm afraid I received the wrong number." Gibbs gave him a small smile.

"Nope, you got it right. Come on follow me Tony is keeping watch." Ducky followed Gibbs to the room.

"Jethro, this is the pediatric unit. Whatever is Timothy doing here?" Ducky was bewildered.

"You'll see. Let me warn you Duck this is really strange. Heck I saw it and I can barely wrap my mind around it." Gibbs opened the door.

To say Ducky was in shock would have been an understatement. In front of him was a child that could not have been more than twelve. At the moment he appeared to be asleep. He had a serene expression on his face as Tony was protectively watching him sleep. Ducky knew without a doubt that this boy was Tim. He knew that Tim did not have any children or younger siblings other than his sister Sarah. Another clue was the fact that the chart on the bed said Timothy McGee and the young man he was looking for was nowhere to be seen.

"What happened Jethro?" Ducky was astounded. HE really didn't know what explanation he was looking for but anything to explain how this occurred.

"We don't know for sure Duck." Gibbs stated sadly.

Looking over at Tony Ducky saw that he had a guilty look on his face. He seemed to watch over Tim as if he were to disappear at any moment. Ducky sighed knowing that Tony was probably blaming himself for what had happened to Tim same as Gibbs was.

"Anthony" He gently called out.

"It's my fault Ducky." Both men turned to look at him. "If I hadn't left him for a while he would still be normal, he wouldn't be like this." Tony gestured toward the bed.

"It is not your fault Anthony" He firmly corrected.

"He's right it's not your fault Tony." Gibbs stated feeling guilty as he hadn't come earlier. He was the team leader he was supposed to be the one who always saved the day. Now though he hadn't gotten there on time and he had failed his agent. He had failed Tim. Sensing the guilt that Gibbs was going through Ducky decided to correct that. As far as he knew no one was to blame for what had happened to Tim other than the ones who had done this.

"Jethro I also meant it wasn't your fault. The only ones at fault are the ones who did this." This led to a pressing question. "Have you caught the person who did this?"

"Yes, there were three and we caught them all. They're in custody." Hearing that Tony perked up there had been four.

"Boss there was four of them."

"Are you sure Dinozzo, because in the premise there were only three."

"Yeah boss, one got hit when we were in the motel, he was handcuffed."

"We searched the room and no one was there." This did not bode well with Gibbs. If one of the perps was still out there, it meant that he could be after Tim.

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><p>Please read and review! Thank You :)<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Thank you to all my wonderful and awesome reviewers! I'm glad that you have liked it and since this is a short chapter, I will upload the next chapter later today. My gift to you :D

**Disclaimer:** I don't own NCIS or its characters

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><p>The next day there was still no change. Gibbs knew that he should have told the others of what had happened, but he didn't know how to explain it. He told them that they would be allowed to visit once Tim woke up. So far the only people that came to see him were Tony, Ducky and himself, plus the protection detail outside. They however didn't know who he was and simply thought he was some sort of witness or something. Of course Vance knew since he was the director.<p>

Ducky had spoken with the doctors and told him that Tim was getting better and would wake up soon when his body decided it was ready. Nonetheless Gibbs was worried that something might go wrong and kept checking in with the doctors every day.

Back at NCIS Tony was entering the elevator when he was affronted by an annoyed Abby. She had her arms crossed and was angrily glaring at him.

"Abbs let me pass, I've got to go to autopsy and get the results from Ducky." Abby still did"n't budge.

"Come on Abby."

"No Tony I want to know why you won't say anything about what happened to Tim. And why can't we go see him."

"I told you Abbs, Boss's orders. When he wakes up you'll get to see him I promise." Not completely satisfied with the answer but knowing it was all she was going to get Abby moved aside. As Tony entered the elevator she got an idea.

"Where are you going Abby?" Ziva questioned her. She also wanted to know what had happened to her teammate. Abby quickly explained her plan to find out exactly what had happened to McGee and why they weren't allowed to see him. Going down towards autopsy they quietly stood outside the door as Tony and Ducky talked.

"So when so you think he will wake up Ducky?" Tony asked. It seemed like such a long time for someone to be unconscious.

"Soon Anthony, the doctors say that he is a healthy young boy, although they are unsure right now of his age." Ducky frowned.

Tony shrugged. "Well I guess we're going to have to wait until he wakes up."

Abby and Ziva froze. Did this mean that Tim had amnesia? Why else wouldn't they know his age? If that was the case then why didn't Gibbs let them visit him? They had visited him when he was in a coma and had amnesia. Both hid as they watched Tony walked out of autopsy.

At the hospital a nurse came and checked on Tim. She took his vitals and recorded them down on his chart.

"When is he going to wake up?" Gibbs asked. The nurse smiled, he asked the same question every day and every day it was the same answer.

"Whenever his body is ready to wake up," Putting the chart down she left the room. Gibbs bit back an annoyed groan. They always gave the exact same answer. He knew that it probably wouldn't change but he couldn't help it. McGee was taking so long to wake up he thought he was in a coma. The doctors had assured him that wasn't the case. Even so he was worried as to why McGee hadn't woken up yet.

Fishing out his newspaper Gibbs sat back and started reading. Although he had the protection detail outside he felt better being inside with his agent, where he could better keep an eye on him. Just as he was dozing off to sleep he heard a noise.

Gibbs turned around as he heard more movement. Tim was waking.

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><p><strong>Please read and review :)<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

Next chapter! I hope you like it :)

**Disclaimer:** I do not own NCIS or any of its characters

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><p>McGee shifted around in bed abruptly stopping as he felt the harsh lights overhead. Where was he? This didn't feel like his bed.<p>

For the first time in many days McGee's eyes fluttered open. Bleary green eyes stared up at Gibbs. Looking around he noticed his surroundings, the standard hospital gown and the IV running along his arm. Why was he in the hospital? Last he remembered he was… Now that he thought about it, he realized he didn't remember.

"Boss," What was wrong with his voice? Why did it sound all high pitched and well why did he sound squeaky.

Gibbs watched as his youngest, now definitely youngest, agent looked up at him in confusion.

"Yes McGee?" Gibbs was worried, he was unsure of how Tim would react to the news. He knew McGee was a level headed person in most situations, but well this news was not normal in any way, shape or form.

"Why am I in the hospital? What happened?" Again McGee frowned. "Boss what's wrong with my voice?"

Deciding to answer the easier questions first Gibbs told him what had happened at the warehouse. As Gibbs told him what had happened Tim slowly started to remember that night's events. But that still didn't answer what was wrong with his voice. As far as he knew he hadn't damaged his voice or had he?

"Boss what about my voice?" This time he wanted to know what was wrong or so help him he would. He never finished that train of thought as

Gibbs wordlessly handed him a mirror. McGee was puzzled. Why had Gibbs given him a mirror? He sat there dumbly holding the mirror in his hand.

Seeing his agent make no move to use the mirror Gibbs sighed. "Look into the mirror Tim"

Lifting the mirror McGee did as Gibbs instructed. He was afraid to find his face horribly disfigured, maybe burned. He had gotten random chemicals injected in him after all. What he saw though was not at all what he had expected.

"Boss?" McGee was scared and rightly so. "What's going on?"

"Exactly what you see there Tim" Gibbs held his hand in case he needed any comfort.

At this Tim noticed that Gibbs' hand was a lot bigger than his. What the hell? Disentangling his hand he held it out in front of him. It was small.

"Seriously Boss what is going on?" there was a note of panic to his voice.

What was going on?

"We don't know ourselves Probie." Turning around McGee saw a smirking Tony leaning against the door.

"What's going on DiNozzo is this one of your jokes? It's not funny!" McGee yelled. McGee was mad, no cut that he was furious. How could they do that to him while he was in the hospital, decide to play a trick on him.

Hearing Tim's panicked yell Tony sobered up quickly. "I wish it was Probie, I wish it was." He sincerely was.

Hearing Tony's serious answer frightened McGee more. If Tony had answered in a joking tone of voice he would have written it off as some sort of prank or hallucination, but if Tony was being serious then that meant that things were serious. Slowly he started to slip.

As Gibbs began to berate Tony for intruding in the conversation they noticed McGee was acting strange.

"Umm McGee what are you doing? Tony and Gibbs were both thoroughly confused. Tim was rocking back and forth hands covering his ears with his eyes tightly closed.

"I'm not hearing you guys." He repeated as he screwed his eyes shut even more if that was possible. Both men stared at him as if he had lost his mind. "I'm going to try to wake up; it's all a nightmare, that's all it is. Any time now" This information compounded with everything else was too much. McGee was close to hysterical. They needed to reach out to him before he went nuts.

"I'm sorry Probie but its real and you're not dreaming" Tony grasped his shoulder and pulled him upright. He needed to physically ground Tim. Deciding that the best option at this point was to anchor him before he got lost in his mind, he shook Tim until he opened his eyes. Tim shook his head.

"But how, I mean it's not possible" Tony looked at him with a sad look on his face.

"Well you like the overachiever you are yet again made the impossible possible probie, you know this reminds me of that …" Tony started.

"Tony if you compare this to some Sci-Fi show or movie I swear I'm going to get out of this bed and strangle you with my bare hands" McGee growled.

Tony turned away to hide a smirk. McGee looked too funny glaring at him with his arms crossed and threatening to strangle him. It was just too cute like a puppy threatening to bite someone. Probie sounded like a growling puppy, he was just that harmless.

"Tony?" McGee's call broke Tony away from his thoughts. His eyes pleading for an answer that Tony would not give. Tony really wished that this was all a dream so that Tim wouldn't have to suffer so much. Plus it was just a whole other world of weird, no another universe of weird.

"Sorry Tim but it's not going away at least anytime soon" Tim's face crumpled as his whole world fell apart. Sensing the pain that McGee was going through Tony moved to his side ready to provide support. He was only slightly surprised when McGee grabbed his shirt tightly and let it all out.

Tony was there anchoring McGee through it all helping him ride it out as he broke down and cried out his anger and frustrations. The shock of everything that had happened that week and now this combined was finally getting out. At this moment he didn't care who was watching.

Gibbs glanced at both of his agents talking and saw McGee's devastated face. Seeing McGee fall apart angered him and he felt a hot fury rise inside him. Whoever had done this to his agent, his surrogate son would pay, dearly.

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><p><strong>Please read and review! Thanks :D<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Thank you to all who reviewed, alerted, and favorited. Warning there is fluff here. Just felt that Tim needed to know the others were there for him. I hope you like it :D

**Disclaimer:** I do not own NCIS or its characters

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><p>White ceiling, white walls, white covers. Wait white covers? McGee blurrily looked around. Where was he? As he looked at the bed his eyes fell upon his form. Darn. Scrubbing at his eyes he looked again. Yup, same thing as yesterday. He had hoped it was a dream.<p>

Gibbs shifted in his seat. Having spent the night there did not help his back or neck muscles in any way.

"It's not going to go away McGee" McGee jumped, startled that Gibbs was there.

He sighed. "I know boss"

It was then that McGee thought of an important question. "Boss does Sarah know?" He looked around normally Sarah would be there if he was hurt. While this was not the normal scrape he had still expected to see her.

Gibbs smiled, knowing that question would come up soon. "We tried to contact her but we couldn't reach her, friends said that she was on a trip somewhere"

Tim groaned. Of course, Sarah had gone on a trip to Europe. She'd told him she wouldn't be back until next month.

Having heard him groan Gibbs was worried. Sensing his boss' concern he decided to explain. "Uhh, sorry about that boss; it's just that I remembered that Sarah is going to be in the Germany for this whole month."

"Now what am I supposed to do?" Tim asked more to himself than to Gibbs. Gibbs however had caught the question. Naturally he was confused, he was certain that McGee had parents. Why hadn't he asked for them or thought of contacting them? Deciding that now was not the time for those questions he asked something else.

"How are you feeling McGee?" Tim sighed; he as feeling like his whole life was some freaky comedy show for some divine power. Seriously did someone up there have it in for him?

"I doubt that McGee" McGee whirled around. Had he said all that aloud? Embarrassment flooded his face.

Gibbs chuckled; McGee's expressive face asking the question. "Yes McGee you did say that out loud"

"Seriously boss, this sort of thing only happens in movies and sci-fi shows not real life" McGee pouted. Life was not fair.

"So apart from your life being a sitcom for creatures with fluffy wings, how do you feel." Gibbs asked again.

"Fine" McGee glared clearly in a huff.

"Good now stop moping around the others are going to come see you in about five minutes" Gibbs hoped that they would react better than Abby had to the news. It hadn't been his choice but she had found out.

"_You called Leon?"_

_Vance decided to ignore the sarcastic tone to Gibbs' voice. "Just wanted to know how McGee was doing." _

_Softening his expression Gibbs told him. "Woke up today, found out what happened and freaked out, not that I blame him. After all it isn't every day that you grow younger instead of older." Vance nodded, that made sense. He was actually wondering how McGee was going to handle it all._

"_So it went alright?"_

"_It went as well as could be expected, now if you don't mind I have to get back before the night shift comes in." With that Gibbs let himself out, not seeing Abby hiding by the door._

As soon as Gibbs had gotten to the bullpen Abby had been waiting for him demanding an explanation. Knowing that she would find out anyways Gibbs had told her everything. By the end of the tale Abby had looked at him like he had grown another head and then had gotten angry when he claimed it was the truth. He still remembered how she had stomped out the room yelling out that if he wanted to be like that and lie then it was fine by her. He told her to come to the hospital the next day with the rest, knowing that she wouldn't miss seeing that her favorite geek was alright.

Suddenly voices and footsteps were heard leading to the room. The door opened and Tim barely had time to react as a body slammed into him.

"Timmy? Oh my Gosh it is true!" Abby tackled him with a smothering Abby Hug.

"Abby oxygen" Tim gasped out.

She immediately released him. "Sorry"

Turning he saw Tony, Ziva, Ducky, and even Jimmy standing in the room. All of them except Tony and Ducky seemed to stare at him in amazement. It was making him uncomfortable.

"Uh guys you're kind of creeping me out" That seemed to break them out of their trance.

Ziva took the initiative and walked over. She had never in all her years of Mossad and NCIS seen or heard of such a thing. Everyone stared at her as she walked over to Tim and held his hand. Staring at his large bright green eyes she smiled. "McGee"

"Ziva?" he was thoroughly perplexed.

"You remember" she stated. McGee nodded a bit confused. What happened next caught everyone off guard. "We were unsure if you were alright or even remembered us" With that she hugged him almost as fiercely as Abby had. Tears sprung into her eyes as she held onto him steadfastly.

"Are you alright Ziva?" McGee asked concerned.

"I am fine McGee." She replied smiling at the fact that even when in a hospital bed McGee still thought of the wellbeing of others before himself.

"Excuse me," Ducky interrupted. He also held a small smile on his face. It was no secret that Ziva considered McGee as a younger brother. First things first. "How are you feeling Timothy?"

"Fine Ducky, well as fine as anyone who just lost about twenty years can be"

"Well actually you didn't lose twenty years, it was only…" McGee glared at Jimmy who took the cue and stopped talking.

"Well my dear boy I believe that you have a long journey ahead of you. One I do not particularly envy" Ducky said.

"So what happened?" Abby asked. She like everyone else had never seen anything like this. It was also a bit no really strange to see Tim like this.

Everyone nodded thinking the same thing. "So far we have no idea; the docs say that he is healthy and nothing's wrong."

"What do they mean nothing's wrong!" Tony was flabbergasted. People didn't become younger just because.

"Jethro means that they found Timothy to be a normal healthy fifteen year old." Ducky responded answering Tony's question.

"So its not like the benjamin button disease?" At this point Tony was throwing things out there.

"No Anthony he is not with any disease that makes him younger, this is normal..."

"But how can this be normal, didn't whatever happened to him do something?" Abby was surprised. "I mean I ran the tests on the drugs that you guys gave me and there are some pretty dangerous chemicals there." Although she was happy that nothing had happened she was confused.

"There was a full physical done including blood work and …" Ducky paused unsure if he should continue. Unfortunately the others saw his hesitation and were not about to let him off the hook.

"What is it Ducky?" Tony asked the question on everyone's mind.

"It is nothing pertaining to the drugs." Ducky tried to stall.

"Spit it out Duck" Gibbs' tone of voice left no room for argument. He wanted to know whatever had happened to his agent and he wanted to know it now.

"As I said before Jethro it has nothing to do with those chemicals but the doctors have expressed their concern over Timothy's nourishment." Everyone looked at Tim as he squirmed in the bed.

"What do you mean?" Abby was worried; did that mean something was wrong with Tim?

"It seems that young Timothy is suffering from a moderate case of malnutrition." Immediately everyone's shocked faces turned to look at him.

Ziva glanced back at Tim's bed, now that she thought about it; he did look a bit thin.

"Is it serious?" She wanted to know what to expect.

Ducky stopped for a moment wondering how to phrase it in a better way. "It is borderline, right now it is not serious but if it gets any worse they will have him on IV."

"What! I thought you said he was healthy." Whatever Tony had been expecting, this was not it.

Ducky knew that Tony had a point. "He is malnourished Anthony, and that will only be a last resort if and only if he does not get better."

"Then we'll have to make sure that doesn't happen." Gibbs stated firmly.

"You guys, I'm still here you know. Don't talk about me like I'm not here." McGee cut in irritated that they were talking about him as if he weren't in the room.

"Forgive us my dear boy it was nothing against you." Ducky apologized.

After that there was an awkward silence in which no one knew what to say.

"So how is everyone doing?" Tim was getting tired of everyone staring at him and asked the first thing on his mind to get their attention off of him.

"We are fine McGee"

"Yeah Probie, we're not the ones stuck in a hospital bed." Tony grinned seeing McGee roll his eyes.

They talked for a while until McGee started getting tired and Gibbs shooed them out the room.

"But Gibbs" Abby whined. "He's going to miss us and what about when he wakes up again?"

"Don't worry Abbs, McGee will be fine. He's going home tomorrow." Gibbs tried to assure her. It seemed that his words just made her even more worried. "But Gibbs where is he going to go now, I mean he's just a minor and his sister isn't here." Gibbs shooed her out the door stating that he would work it all out.

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><p><strong>Note:<strong> I stated earlier that McGee looked like he was twelve, but I made him fifteen. This is because he has always looked younger than he actually is. I originally was going to make him thirteen. If you have any ideas for what age to make him feel free to tell me, either in a review or in a pm. I prefer somewhere in the preteens or teens. Thank you!

Read and review :)


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Sorry for updating sooner, but I had finals and well it gets a bit hectic. Also for those who have not read the little note I had at the bottom of the last chapter, I made Tim fifteen even though I said that he looked like he was twelve because I think that he has always looked younger than he actually is. If you have suggestions for another age, send me a pm.

Thank you to all who reviewed, alerted, or favorited! I'm totally in your debt.

**Disclaimer:** I still don't own NCIS or its characters, and sadly I never have nor never will.

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><p>The next morning Gibbs entered and saw Tim sitting up in bed, Tony by his side. There was a tray of what could only be described as hospital food in front of him. And from what he could see it was not very appetizing.<p>

"Come on Probie just eat the food" Tony had been trying to convince Tim for the past half hour to eat the damn hospital food.

"I will if you will Tony" McGee answered as he glared at the food as if it had done him some wrong just by being there. Which in his opinion it had. Gibbs chuckled as he saw McGee glare at the food with his arms crossed. This startled both of his agents as yet again he had entered without making a sound. Both turned around to see Gibbs stand in the doorway.

"Hey boss" Tony greeted with a hint of exasperation in his voice. Why couldn't McGee just eat the food already?

"What's wrong?" Gibbs asked. McGee still had his arms crossed although he was now glaring at Tony.

"Oh nothing boss everything here is just peachy what with Tim not wanting to eat breakfast even though the doctor said he had to." The last part was directed towards Tim who gave him the evil eye.

Gibbs nodded and looked over at McGee. He was rather thin and the doctors told them that he had to get more nourishment because he was slightly underweight for his age.

"I'm not hungry." McGee quickly answered before anyone could say anything.

"See boss, see" Tony raised his hands in exasperation. Looking over at the frazzled Tony, Gibbs decided to take pity on him and help him out.

"I agree with Tony on this one McGee you heard the doc he said that you need to get more nourishment in you" Gibbs tried to reason with Tim.

"Come on Boss can't I eat something else" McGee whined.

"McGee" His stern response gave no room for arguement. or so he thought.

"I'll eat anything else I promise just not this" McGee poked the lump of whatever it was. It jiggled and was not jello. McGee shuddered, he was definitely not eating it now.

"McGee I'm pretty sure that the nurses gave that to you for a reason" Tony tried to help. McGee turned around and glared at him effectively shutting Tony up. He was usually a reasonable person, but it was morning and he hadn't had coffee for a while. No one would give him any, it was unfair. He was sure he was suffering from caffeine withdrawal.

Gibbs gave him a look. "Not up for debate."

"But Boss" McGee gave him the puppy eyes, full blown version. Gibbs blinked was McGee really going to do that? McGee's face answered him. Yeah boss, anything to not have to eat that disgusting food.

After about a minute Gibbs finally gave in. "Dinozzo"

Tony perked up hearing his name. "Yes Boss"

"Go buy something for him to eat" Gibbs pointed at Tim.

"But boss what about the…"

"I'm sure whatever he gets as long as its edible is fine now go." Tony scrambled to leave. Gibbs right behind him about to get another cup of coffee. He had a feeling he was going to need it before the day was over. Just as he was closing the door.

"Your baby agent's got you wrapped around his finger"

Gibbs jumped but quickly schooled his features back to normal.

"What do you want Fornell?" Gibbs' question just made him laugh.

"Nothing, I just came to see how your injured boy was" Fornell's reply sounded a bit suspicious.

Gibbs narrowed his eyes. "How did you know?" As far as he knew it wasn't being made public knowledge.

"Just heard. You know Scuttlebutt" Gibbs indeed did know scuttlebutt and it was never good.

"I need real answers Fornell" Gibbs grit his teeth he did not have time for any of his games.

"Relax, the rumor was that one of your team was hurt and when I went to NCIS everyone was there except you two." Gibbs was relieved that meant no one knew for now.

"Ran into Ducky told him I was coming and he told me you were here"

"So what's wrong with your agent?" Fornell was genuinely concerned. Even though he didn't really talk to him much, he respected McGee. Anyone who could put up with Dinozzo on a daily basis deserved a medal.

"You'll see" was Gibbs' cryptic answer as he led the FBI agent in the room.

"What is this, McGee got a kid?" That was the only answer he could come up with. Although to have a teenage kid he'd have to have the kid as a teenager himself. That didn't really make sense.

"Nope look closer." Fornell walked closer to the boy wondering who he was.

"Boss?" McGee looked at Gibbs in confusion looking for an answer.

They could both see the moment it clicked. "Shit Gibbs, what happened?"

Gibbs smirked it was fun seeing people's faces when they found out. But that aside, "We're not sure yet"

Fornell looked between McGee and Gibbs. There was no denying it. The moment he heard the boy on the bed say boss he knew it was McGee. He looked the same, Heck he even acted the same.

"So how did it happen?" McGee and Gibbs looked at each other. Fornell listened as they recounted the events of how Gibbs' youngest agent came to be even younger.

As Gibbs finished recounting the tale Fornell frowned, something didn't seem quite right. "So you mean that you haven't found the person responsible?"

Gibbs face turned hard. "No but we're looking for the bastard."

Fornell nodded. He was at loss of what to say. It wasn't every day that stuff like this happened. He was sure of one thing though, said person or people had to be crazy. No one messed with Gibbs' people and got away with it. After wishing them good luck and telling them to call if they needed anything he left.

"What was that all about?" Tony had spotted Fornell walking out of the room.

"Just came to see how McGee was." McGee rolled his eyes.

"What do you mean? How did he know?" Tony was worried. This was not good.

"Nothing serious" Gibbs waved him away grabbing the coffee Tony brought and pointing at the bed.

"But…"

"He didn't know until he got here, just heard someone was hurt and came here" Tony relaxed. That meant that no one else knew.

"I'm right here" McGee retorted. He was tired of people acting like he wasn't in the room. He was shrunk well younger not deaf.

"Cranky probie? Let's fix that up, I got you a McBreakfast McGee, get it" Tim rolled his eyes and snatched the bag of McDonald's food. After watching them for a while Gibbs left for NCIS, leaving Tony as part of the protection detail.

"Thanks Tony" McGee mumbled between chews.

"Hey don't thank me yet, I still get to take complete control of the TV especially with how you made me buy you breakfast"

"How did I do that Tony?" McGee looked up innocently at Tony.

"You know what I mean McGeek, with the whole puppy eyes routine. No one can resist that look, it always makes you look younger." After that there was an awkward silence as Tony thought over what he had said. It was ironic that the youngest agent on Team Gibbs who had always managed to look younger than his years had become younger.

McGee was thinking along the same train of thought. Why him, he got harassed a lot because of his baby like face. This was not going to help in any way.

"Hey stop with the pouting McGoo you're getting discharged later today" Tony saw McGee's pout and tried to get him out of his funk.

"I do not pout." McGee did not pout. He did not.

"Oh yes you do McPout." Tony smiled as McGee answered back.

For a while friendly banter was all that could be heard throughout the room. This is how it's supposed to be Tony mused. If only they knew what to do next.

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><p>Back at NCIS Abby ran more scans on the drugs they had injected Tim with. She was running every scan possible from radioactivity to the most obscure scans done only by the CIA. So far the results had proven that it was a dangerous combination of chemicals that should have had him dead in minutes.<p>

"Come on babies work faster. Timmy is in trouble." A ping was heard from one of her machines. Glancing over she looked towards the machine.

**NO MATCH**

Frustrated Abby banged her fist against the table. "Trouble Abbs?"

Abby turned around "Gibbs, I don't have anything for you right now." She paced back and forth across her lab. "I can't even figure out who the missing person is!" having been given the task of finding their fourth person who Tony hadn't been able to identify, due to a mask, in addition with the other stuff was frustrating her to no end.

"Don't worry Abbs, We'll find that missing person in no time." Handing her a Caff-Pow he gave her a quick peck on the cheek and got a smile in return.

"You bet we will Gibbs and when we do you will get whoever he is working with and hunt them all down." Gibbs smiled at her enthusiasm. "You can bet we will Abbs."

Back at the bullpen Gibbs sat down. With two of his agents currently not there, it felt empty. Ziva glanced at him as he walked in and sat down. She was currently trying to follow any leads they could get. The men they had arrested had gotten an insane appeal from their lawyer and currently were not allowed to be interrogated. As frustrating as it was there was nothing they could do about it.

"Jimmy?" Ziva broke out of her thoughts as she saw Jimmy standing there shifting from foot to foot. "What are you doing here?" She was genuinely puzzled.

"Do you need something Palmer?" Gibbs asked.

"What? Oh no I mean I-I just wanted to know how McGee was." He looked like he was about ready to run back to autopsy. Gibbs stopped him. "He's ok, last I checked he was up and arguing with Tony and me over breakfast." Jimmy gave him a small smile as he thought about what Gibbs had said. Never in a million years would he argue with Gibbs, but it appeared that 6'3 or not McGee was still a hard headed person as was everyone on Gibbs' team.

Gibbs returned the smile. As frustrating as it had been in the morning to get Tim to eat, it was a sign that he was alright. By no means was he ok with what had happened, but with no leads it appeared he would be like that for a while. For the same reason they had the protection detail and Tony at the hospital. Gibbs was not taking chances, he was not leaving Tim by himself. Not when their perp might come back and finish off whatever he had been tryying to do.

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><p>Read and review :D<p> 


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **Thank you to all who read, reviewed, favorited, or alerted. You made my day, Thanks!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own NCIS or its characters

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><p>Gibbs paced around the waiting room. The doctors had told him in no uncertain terms that he was not to barge in there and take McGee with him until they said so. Fortunately he was due to leave in an hour and would be coming home with him, he just had to wait. He had tried to contact McGee's family and was surprised to find out that as of now McGee had no family to claim him. While he would be more than happy to take care of him while all this came to pass, he was thinking on why McGee and the others had hidden all of this.<p>

"Boss? What are you doing here?" McGee was surprised to see Gibbs in his room. Gibbs smirked, had Tim forgotten he was getting discharged?

"You're coming home with me McGee."

"But boss I was going to go home I mean…" Tim stopped at the look directed at him.

Gibbs frowned. "If you really think that I was going to allow you to go home right now then you are severely overdue a headslap." Grabbing hold of the wheelchair Gibbs wheeled him out to the car.

During the ride to Gibbs' house Tim fell asleep. Gibbs let out a small smile as he watched his youngest team member sleep. He looked so peaceful and his boyish face held traces of innocence. Shaking his head Gibbs let his mind drift off to more pressing matters. Without parents and unable to contact his sister Tim would become a ward of the state, after all Timothy McGee was supposed to be a thirty year old male. Without family and identification Tim would become lost in the system as no one would want to adopt a teenage boy. Vowing to not let that happen, over his dead body, Gibbs parked his car and got out.

"McGee" Gibbs called out gently shaking the slumbering boy. Said boy let out an indiscernible sound.

"Want to try again?" Gibbs chuckled. Tim sluggishly sat up and blankly stared at Gibbs, his expression plainly asking where are we? Desperately trying not to laugh Gibbs grabbed his arm. "Come on Tim you can sleep inside." Lifting him up Tim grudgingly walked up the steps.

"Timmy!" Abby yelled out opening the door for them. McGee mumbled out something that could barely be described as the english language. "Umm, What?" Abby looked towards Gibbs for a clue.

"Shh Abbs; McGee is tired so he is a bit incoherent." Gibbs replied with a smile. Helping Gibbs get McGee up to the guest room Abby stared as Gibbs tucked McGee in. She was still trying to wrap her mind around all this as she stood there stock still. Gibbs walked over and quietly led her out the room. Both walked in silence until Abby thought of an important question. "Gibbs what's going to happen to Timmy?" At Gibbs confused look she clarified. "I mean what will happen to his job at NCIS and his apartment?"

Gibbs had also been wondering the same thing as to what would happen to McGee and his job. "I don't know but we'll figure it out."

Once Abby left, Gibbs took one last look at McGee and went down to his basement to work on his boat. A few hours later, Gibbs was so into his work that he didn't notice the smaller figure watching him.

Hearing a faint rustle, Gibbs quickly got up and looked around. As he looked up, his gaze fell upon Tim sitting at the top of the stairs looking at him with a sheepish expression on his face.

"Hey Boss" Was all Tim could say as he saw Gibbs catch him in the act of staring at him while he worked on his boat.

"McGee, What are you doing here?"

Tim shrugged. "I woke up and got bored since I had nothing to do and well I saw the door open and saw you here so I sat down." Gibbs nodded that made sense. Although he now felt bad that the poor kid had sat around bored for who knows how long in complete silence. Sometimes McGee was too polite.

"Are you hungry?" Gibbs asked, his own stomach rumbling with hunger.

Tim shook his head. "Not really boss" At that exact moment however his stomach decided to contradict him and gave a loud growl.

"When's the last time you ate?" McGee sighed and gave a mumbled, "Breakfast"

Deciding that Tim hadn't eaten for a while Gibbs decided to remedy that immediately. Walking towards the kitchen, Gibbs started on making some dinner. Tim got busy cleaning and setting the table. Seeing the wonderful plate of pasta that Gibbs had cooked up had Tim's mouth watering.

"I didn't know you could cook boss" He said quickly taking a seat at the table.

Gibbs smirked, "Well I don't live off of Coffee and takeout alone McGee." Tim nodded and they started eating. After they had finshed their meal and random chit chatter, Gibbs decided to ask the one question that had been plaguing him ever since the whole thing had happened.

"Why didn't you tell me about your parents McGee?" Tim froze.

"What do you mean boss?" He really hoped that Gibbs didn't know about what had happened. Of course, part of him knew that his boss would find out sooner or later, although he preferred later.

"I want to know why you decided not to tell me what had happened."

Tim sighed. "It wasn't like that boss, can't you let it go." He did not want to have this conversation now or ever.

"No Tim, I need to know what is happening with my team members and if something like this happens I need to know about it."

"It didn't interfere with my work." McGee answered quickly.

This time it was Gibbs' turn to sigh. "I know that McGee"

"Then why?" Tim looked up at him with a puzzled expression on his face. If it didn't interfere with his work, then why was Gibbs upset?

Seeing the puzzled expression on McGee's face, Gibbs decided to explain. "We are a team Tim and while I know that you like having your private life private, we can help."

Tim didn't know what to say. He knew that the team was there, but he just couldn't go up to them and ask for help. He, he didn't even need help. He was just fine thank you very much.

Gibbs watched as the flicker of emtions passed through Tim's face. He shook his head when he saw that Tim had a stubborn look on his face. It seemed that McGee was just as stubborn as him sometimes.

"Thanks boss but I don't need help." McGee's conflicting emotions were about ready to unravel if he didn't stray away from this conversation. He quickly got up and was about to walk away. He couldn't stand the pity.

"Tim" Gibbs' quiet voice made him stop. Turning around he noticed that Gibbs was not looking at him with pity, but with understanding. Tears welled in his eyes as he felt a sense of loneliness. Gibbs must have sensed it too because he also got up and walked over to Tim. Then in a rare show of emotion Gibbs wrapped his arms around Tim's shoulders and embraced him. Tim struggled at first trying to get away from the embrace, but Gibbs held on. "It's ok, let it out Tim."

That seemed to be all the encouragement he needed as he sagged into the embrace and let the tears come. Throughout it all Gibbs held on. For the first time Tim was actually mourning for his family. While at the hospital it had been due to many factors including his transformation, this time it was purely for the death of his parents. Gibbs heart constricted at how distraught the young boy in front of him was.

After an unknown period of time the emotional storm passed and Tim was exhausted. Seeing him about to nod off, Gibbs helped Tim up the stairs to the bedroom. Once in bed Tim barely put his head down before he was promptly asleep.

Closing the door Gibbs looked at his young agent again. He was sleeping so soundly and so carefree that Gibbs smiled. No matter what, he was not going to let anyone get the sweet kid that was sleeping in his house. Those responsible for this would wish they had given themselves to him on a silver platter by the time he was done with them. He had failed Tim once, but he was damned if he was going to fail him again.

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><p>Read and Review :)<p> 


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: **Sorry for the delay but I got sick on Sunday. I had fever, chills, aches, sore throat, the whole package. Thanks to all you wonderful people who reviewed or alerted.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own NCIS or any of its characters

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><p>"Hey Boss! How is McGee?"<p>

Gibbs bit back a groan. Having been let off the roster for a while, the whole team had come to his house for breakfast. "Still sleeping Tony"

"Oh well more for us." Tony swiped at a piece of toast.

Abby punched Tony in the arm. "Not a bite until Timmy gets here."

Ziva nodded her agreement. "Yes Tony I will not let anyone eat until he comes down." For added measure she held the pan of eggs away from him.

"Aww, come on I'm hungry" Tony whined.

"Then I suggest you go wake him up, so we can all eat Tony." Gibbs told him with a pointed look at his direction.

"Fine, Fine, I'll go get him so we can eat." Tony grumbled headed for the stairs.

Tim was fast asleep and in dreamland. He hadn't had such a good's nights rest since well he couldn't even remember. He was in the middle of a nice dream when.

"Rise and shine McSleepy!"

Tim groaned. Maybe if he turned around and ignored him he would go away.

"Come on McGee; get your body up off that bed and downstairs." Tony called out.

"Go away Tony" Tim murmured. It was too early to deal with anything.

"Nuh uh McSnore not until you get your little butt off that bed."

His only response was a pillow thrown at his face. "Real mature Tim, real mature"

That got Tim to get up and throw another pillow at Tony which hit him square in the face causing him to land on the floor. Tim giggled and promptly covered his mouth in surprise. He had not giggled like that for a long time. Tony was also surprised to hear the boyish giggle come from McGee.

"Oh you think it's funny Tim, well this means war." Smirking he got one of the pillows Tim had thrown earlier and threw it at the boy on the bed. McGee deftly dodged the pillow and launched his own counter attack to which Tony responded in the same way. All thoughts of breakfast quickly forgotten as the unexpected pillow war continued.

"What can be taking them so long?" Abby asked. It had been a good fifteen minutes since Tony had gone up to wake Tim. Surely he would have woken him by now.

"Don't know but I'll go check Abby," With that Gibbs got up and left for the stairs. Less than five minutes later he came back with a smile on his face. He motioned for them to go with him.

"What is it Gibbs?" Abby asked.

"You'll see." Everyone quietly followed him up the stairs and into the doorway. Crowding around they all sneaked for a peek at what had made Gibbs smile.

Tony and Tim were alternating between wrestling and hitting each other with pillows and any other objects that they could find. What made the scene even funnier, was the fact that they were both on the ground and tangled up in the bed sheets. Both seemed oblivious to the door opening and everyone's stares. They kept on fighting until Abby burst into laughter causing everyone to crack up too. Hearing the commotion stopped both of the assailants in their tracks.

"Nice weapons" Ziva commented. Both Tony and Tim turned and looked at the pillows in their hands. Blushing both dropped them and quickly got up.

"So, breakfast?"

After breakfast the team decided to stay and with Tony's persuasion they all ended up watching movies. Countless movies later and Ziva and Abby were snoring. Receiving a call Gibbs got up and left to answer, leaving Tony and Jimmy in charge of Tim. Jimmy left promising to bring back some ice cream for them three and left Tim and a half asleep Tony watching movies. Just as he was dozing off, Tim heard a noise at the door. Looking back at Tony he saw him deeply asleep, not wanting to wake him up and thinking it was Jimmy with the ice cream he opened the door.

Gibbs came back into the living room and looked around. Abby and Ziva were lying on opposite ends of the couch with Tony stuck in the middle. All three of them seemed to be sound asleep. Looking around he noticed that Tim wasn't there. Proceeding to wake them up he asked if they had seen Tim. No one had seen him go anywhere and they proceeded to search the entire house.

"Gibbs" Ziva's tone of voice had everyone running. As soon as they got to where she was standing, they noticed what had made her call out.

The front door was open and fresh tire marks could be seen leaving Gibbs' driveway.

_Confused_

_Dizzy_

_Darkness_

These were the first things that Tim felt as he woke up in the back of a van. Trying to move his arms around he noticed that his hands were tied behind his back. Apart from feeling dizzy and having a pounding headache he was physically fine. Mentally his thoughts were going all over the place and he was scared as to what was going to happen to him. _Who were they? What did they want?_ All these thoughts filled his head as the van moved on in what seemed hours.

Back at home Gibbs was in a fury, those bastards had gotten Tim again. By now Jimmy had come back and was horrified to find out that Tim had been taken away. The rest of the team was out gathering evidence with a somber expression on their faces. Gibbs thought back to the phone call that had diverted his attention when Tim was being taken.

_What now Leon?_

_Good morning to you too Gibbs_

_I don't care for the introductions, why are you calling? Is McGee in danger?" If McGee was in any danger then he needed to know. _

"_Oh no, nothing like that" Gibbs breathed a sigh of relief. "I've just got some encryptions that can't be cracked and..."_

"_No" Gibbs responded with a firm voice._

"_No? Last time I checked Gibbs you had no say over what I assign to agent McGee."_

"_No, McGee is in no condition to be cracking encryptions or whatever it is that you need. Why don't you get one of your people down on cybercrimes and get them to do your encryption thingy."_

"_I thought he was fine."_

"_He's a kid right now Leon, he's barely adjusting to everything that's happened!" Gibbs was not letting Vance get a hold of Tim right now. He was in no condition to be cracking encryptions and hacking stuff, he was a kid. _

"_He's a teenager Gibbs and there are people his age hacking."_

"_I don't care they can hack and get arrested by homeland security all they want, McGee is not going to do all this just because you want him to." No way was he letting Tim do anything he wasn't supposed to._

"_Gibbs" Vance tried to make him see sense._

"_We don't even know if he remembers how to do all of these things."_

_At this Vance paused. Gibbs had a point, they didn't know if McGee remembered all the things that he knew from before. Deciding that cybercrimes could handle it this time he let it go._

"_Fine Gibbs, but remember we'll have to see what he remembers soon."_

_Gibbs inwardly rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'll get back to you on that." _

_Click_

Time to call Vance and let him know that McGee had just been taken.

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	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:** I do not own NCIS or its characters.

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><p>Tim woke up slumped in a bed, handcuffed. This room looked suspiciously like a hospital room. Looking around much closer though showed that it wasn't. Leaning towards the wall, he watched as his captors came into the room. He kept watching as one of the guys slowly came up to him. He stood there for a few seconds, then SLAP!<p>

Startled Tim looked up. "That was for what your partner did to me" Tim guessed that this was the guy that Tony had most likely tackled and handcuffed. This time though, none of the men were wearing masks and he could see their faces. The guy who had slapped him had what most likely had been a black eye. As the rest of the men circled around him Tim scooted towards the wall. He wasn't scared he told himself, he was apprehensive. After all look what they had done to him last time and who knows what they would do to him now.

Ring….Ring….Ring….

Gibbs quickly picked up the phone. It could be information on Tim.

"_Hello? Agent Gibbs?" A female voice came through the line._

"_Who is this," Gibbs did not recognize the voice at the other end._

"_Sarah-Sarah McGee" Ah, now Gibbs recognized the voice. It was Tim's younger sister; he had met her that time she was framed for murder. _

"_Where's my brother, I've called him like twenty times and no one answers" Sarah sounded desperate and scared. Her brother always answered when she called. Always._

"_He's not here right now," Gibbs really didn't know how to break it to her._

"_What do you mean he's not here right now?" Hearing the panic in Sarah's voice Gibbs decided to tell her before she imagined the worst. _

"_He was taken yesterday and we are still trying to find him"_

"_Is he?" She couldn't even voice what she was thinking._

"_No! He's alive and we'll get him back, I promise" Gibbs answered firmly._

"_I'll be there tomorrow" Sarah answered with a note of finality heard in her voice._

"_That fast" Gibbs was surprised._

"_I had a feeling something was wrong, Goodbye agent Gibbs" _

_As soon as Sarah hung up Gibbs thought back to the promise he had made. He had made it to calm Sarah down, but it was a promise he would keep._

"Boss, we've got a letter" Gibbs quickly got up and took the letter from Tony. It was an ordinary letter that only had agent McGee written on the front in elegant writing. Opening the letter Gibbs pulled out a cd. The only other written piece of paper said insert into computer. Deciding that this most likely had something to do with Tim's disappearance, Gibbs went down to the lab to see just what was on the disk.

In the lab Abby was busy working and trying to find any evidence on who had taken Tim. Ziva was with her helping her sort through the little information that they had. Hearing the ding of the elevator, they turned to see Gibbs and Tony walk into the lab with Gibbs holding an envelope in his hands.

"Gibbs I don't have anything yet, is that more evidence?" Abby asked. Nodding Gibbs gave it to Abby who quickly inserted it into a computer and waited for it to load. Everybody crowded around eager to find out what was contained in the cd. As soon as it loaded they breathed a sigh of relief.

Sitting in what appeared to be a hospital bed was Tim. Apart from looking disoriented he seemed fine. He was looking around wide eyed all over the room before his gaze zeroed in. They watched as several men came into the room and seemed to observe Tim for a moment before one of the men came up to him. They jumped as a sudden slap was heard. Tony cringed at the sound. Ziva on the other hand felt a sudden fury rise up in her as she heard the reason for the slap. It was not Tim's fault that Tony had given the guy a black eye.

"How much do your friends know?" The sharpness in the man's tone was clearly heard. While a normal child would have answered immediately out of fear, Tim was no ordinary child. Having trained and worked as a field agent he knew that giving out information was never the answer. After several minutes of silence another slap came. The man with the bruise obviously had some type of grudge against Tim.

"I would answer if I were you"

"Well then thank God that I'm not you" Tim retorted. _Good for you Tim_, Gibbs thought. Just then they watched as Tim doubled over. The man had punched Tim in the stomach leaving him out of breath for a few minutes.

"Any more smart remarks"

"Yup, But I don't think that you'd understand them" Just as it appeared that he would punch Tim again, another one of the group came and seemed to say something and he backed off. After a few more whispers, everyone else walked away except one person who stayed in the room. He seemed to be the leader of the group.

Staring straight at Tim he icily stated. "We will come back later Timothy McGee and we will get answers."

Turning towards the camera the team heard as he talked directly into the camera. "Here is proof that he is alive" With that the video ended and the computer screen turned black.

Staring back at the screen the team had solemn expressions on their face as they thought back to the image of a terrified Tim handcuffed to the bed. Gibbs vowed that he would find them and then there would be hell to pay.

Tim was uncomfortable. His arms were taut from the handcuffs and his stomach hurt a bit from the punch. Not to mention the fact that his wrists were sore from trying to slip off the handcuffs. Once again he started twisting his arms and wrists in an effort to get free from his restraints. His reward was a bloody wrist.

Sighing Tim decided that it was futile. The handcuffs were new and probably wouldn't break or slip off. Slumping against the bed he tried to think on anything other than the upcoming discussion, which he was sure was going to be even more painful if the man's icy tone was any indication. He just hoped that Gibbs got there before he ended up dead.

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><p>I just had to torture Tim a bit, sorry.<p>

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	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Thank you to all who read and reviewed. Also those who alerted or favorited. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or its characters**

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><p>Sarah McGee was on a mission.<p>

Having not heard from her brother for a while and then finding out that he had been abducted made her frantic.

When she called again and heard that they still had not found her brother she was even more worried. She couldn't lose her brother, not now. Not when she had just lost her parents.

Searching around the airport she found the person she was looking for, Tony. Gibbs had sent Tony to go pick her up. He claimed that she would be in no condition to drive anywhere. While at the time she had complained, she was glad that Gibbs had persisted. She was tired and panicked.

"Tony, I'm so glad to see you" She threw her arms around him as he helped pick up her luggage and gave her a hug.

"Me too, little… I mean….err…. other McGeek" Tony seemed to stumble on his words. Technically she was not the littlest McGee anymore, but he knew that Sarah didn't know yet about the little accident that Tim had. Sarah shrugged thinking nothing of it. Helping her into the car he drove off to NCIS.

Tim was in pain.

His whole body hurt. He had just had that discussion with the leader and mad guy and it hadn't gone well. He was now bruised all over. Pulling himself to the bed he grimaced in pain. The men had left him alone with a promise of more to come if he didn't give them information. He was so absorbed in his aches and pains that he didn't notice the camera in the corner of the room.

"You're saying what!" Sarah was in a rage. She rushes back from England worried and they present her with this BS.

"It's true Sarah, Why would we lie to you?"

"I don't know, but I don't believe you!" She yelled back.

Gibbs sighed he had been worried that Sarah wouldn't believe them. Just as he was getting ready to explain again, Ziva came running into the bullpen with package in her hands.

"Gibbs, there is a package here addressed to McGee" Taking it down to the lab Gibbs called out to Ziva.

"You with me" Looking around he noticed another agent standing around. "You take care of her" He called pointing at Sarah.

In the lab Abby and Tony were analyzing the cd they had received earlier, trying to find any clues as to where Tim was.

"Leave that Abby" Gibbs commanded walking into the lab.

"But Gibbs"

"Got another one for you and a package" He took out the cd and the package and set them down on the table. Again the cd was loaded, but this time it didn't contain a video, but a message and a link.

Clicking the link they were taken to a live video feed. Again Tim was in the bed handcuffed. Gibbs watched in horror as Tim turned around. His face was mottled with bruises and he had a black eye. His arms were also littered with bruises and his wrists were bloody and raw.

"Call Ducky" Gibbs ordered, wanting the kindly doctor to be there to determine how badly Tim was hurt.

Ducky came into the lab not even five minutes later and gasped.

"How bad is he Duck?" Gibbs asked.

"Admittedly I would need to be there to be certain Jethro, but I have a suspicion that he either has bruised or broken ribs." Ducky stated sadly. The boy in front of them looked so different from how he had looked a few days ago. Just as he was about to ask what had happened, they heard a noise in the back of the lab. Staring with a horrified and shocked expression stood Sarah.

"Sarah you weren't supposed to…" Tony started.

Sarah however was in no mood to hear it. "Oh my gosh is that?" She couldn't even voice the words. This was unbelievable. Having grown up in the same house, she had seen her brother at that age and he looked exactly like that.

Just as Gibbs was about to answer, the man in the video beat him to it.

"Agent Gibbs, I presume that you and your team are all watching this" He motioned at the room with the flick of his hand.

"Timothy McGee is not fine as you can see but he is alive" He stated matter of fact. "If he hadn't been so stubborn then he would be in better conditions" He shrugged which made everyone even angrier. "His fault"

Staring straight into the camera he whispered softly. "Instructions are in the package. Follow them and all will be alright." Glancing back at the camera for a minute, he walked back out.

The team watched as Tim tried to move his legs. Gibbs got even angrier when he noticed that not only had the bastards handcuffed Tim's arms, but also his legs. Wait till he had those bastards.

"When we find them I will kill them," Ziva seemed to be thinking along the same note. The rest of the team just smiled grimly. When they found McGee being the key word.

They watched for a while as Tim seemed to settle down having found a semi-comfortable position and peacefully drifted off to sleep before the feed cut off.

Tim was anything but peaceful. His nightmares prevented him from catching any rest. Although he didn't show it in front of his captors, he was terrified.

He struggled all night as his dreams seemed to chase him and taunt him just as his captors had. While his older mind set told him that they were just trying to scare him and get him to cave in, his younger mindset and emotions thought that they might be right. _What if the team didn't find him or worse yet, what if they didn't care that he was gone? After all, he was younger now and there wasn't much he could do. He wasn't that useful anymore, just like they had said. Who knew if the team still wanted him back?_

_No! His mind yelled at him. He couldn't think that it was not true and it would be caving in to what they had said. He would stay strong until Gibbs came. Gibbs would come he was sure of it. _

With that final thought in mind Tim waited for the next day.

Once the live feed had ended, Abby had donned some gloves and opened the package. Inside there was just a small flash drive and a letter. Opening the letter which was addressed to Gibbs he began to read.

_Dear Agent Gibbs_

_I am the man whose life you ruined. Finding out about my not exactly by the book projects while I worked for the government was a mistake. You should have kept your and your agent's nose out of my business. I was fired that's true, but I did not stop my research. I simply moved on to another area of study._

_The chemicals that made your agent like this, yes that was me, are gone. There is no more in the world. They were one of a kind. As for an antidote or cure or whatever you want to call it; there is none. I made sure that this was permanent just as my job termination was._

_Have fun and stick around._

_Sincerely, George S._

The case flashed through Gibbs' head. He remembered that case. McGee had played a large part in the case because of his technological skills and understanding of biomed. What was the guy's name? George…. Steam…no… Steemer. That was it.

Gibbs quickly got up and gave the letter back to Abby. "Check for prints and any other evidence you can find on this, the cd and the flash drive." He had to make sure they had the right guy.

"Ziva and Tony look up George Steemer. I want everything on him now" He ordered walking out of the lab Ziva and Tony hot on his heels.

"Who's George Steemer boss?" Tony asked. Ziva nodded also wondering who it was and just what he had done to anger Gibbs so much.

Gibbs stopped and looked back at them with an icy look in his eyes. "The bastard that we are going to hunt down and hopefully will resist arrest."

Getting the point Tony and Ziva quickly went to their desks and began running a search.

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><p>Read and Review :)<p> 


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** Sorry for the extremely long wait. I hope this longer chapter makes up for it :)

**Disclaimer:** Don't own NCIS or its characters

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><p>"Good morning Timothy" Cold water was thrown at his face making him wake up gasping. Tim didn't say anything and only glared at the man angrily. The man seemed to find this funny.<p>

"Ooh, didn't your mother ever tell you that your face will get stuck like that Timmy?" He seemed to be thinking hard about something. "Oh no wait that's right she's dead isn't she?" He laughed watching Tim's glare intensify in fury.

He walked forwards towards Tim until their faces almost touched. "Must have not been a good driver huh?" He taunted. This seemed to be the breaking point for Tim who struggled against his bonds.

"Don't you dare talk about my mother you bastard!" He yelled out.

"Now now Timothy I'm sure you were raised better than that." Tim glared at him and began swinging wildly trying to somehow land a hit even with his arms and legs handcuffed. The man simply smirked and skirted out of Tim's reach. In a move that stretched his bonds and probably dislocated some muscle Tim somehow managed to kick his captor in the groin and the man groaned out in part surprise and part pain.

As his captor doubled over in pain Tim smirked. Once the man got his bearings again he looked up and saw the smug smirk on Tim's face. Infuriated he got up and slammed the boy against the wall. He held him tight making sure that Tim couldn't escape his grip.

After a few minutes of struggles Tim gave up. It was just hurting his aching ribs even more. Seeing the boy stop his struggles he waited until Tim calmed down.

"Now that your little fit is over, have you thought about my proposition Timothy?" The man asked with a cold voice.

"Yes" Tim answered simply, his face betraying no emotion at what that meant. Two could play at this game. Sensing this, the man let him go and stood directly in front of him.

"And?" He asked.

"No" Tim answered.

"Are you sure?" The coldness in his tone was replaced with a resigned one.

Tim nodded. He had been asked the same question over and over again and the answer was always the same. Tim didn't know why they kept trying.

"It's still the same answer"

The man sighed. "I suspected as much" Tim rolled his eyes. Turning around the man exited the room and locked it.

Inside the room Tim waited until he heard the door lock and got up. Well as much as the handcuffs would allow anyways. He knew that he had to get out but he couldn't see how. With the door locked on the outside he would not be able to escape unless they either took him out of the room or someone came in. The handcuffs only complicated this matter as he did not know how to escape handcuffs. He never had the need. Now though he thought, he might just tell Gibbs that they should teach all employees how to get out of handcuffs. It could prove to be useful in these types of situations.

Outside Steemer stood watching Tim. Even though he didn't show it he was still amazed that his idea had worked. Testing lab rats and performing on live humans were two very distinct things after all. With the adult agent they had run the risk that the test subject could die at any given moment due to the toxic makeup of the drugs. Not only had the agent not died but his idea had worked and in the place of a 6'3 adult man there sat a smaller, younger, and way more vulnerable kid. He was glad that it had worked. He knew that Agent Gibbs must be in a state of worry and panic trying to find his missing agent.

In fact the only thing that angered him at the moment was the fact that he could not make the kid talk. Oh sure he would let out sarcastic and irrelevant responses but not what they wanted. Not even with the threat and realization of a beating did the boy answer them. Normally with beatings this bad even grown men would babble out whatever they wanted but this kid was stubborn and did not answer. He had thought that with the first slap the kid would be afraid and tell them all they wanted to know but so far that had not happened. He knew the boy was in pain because he held his ribs and was covered in bruises and cuts. He did not feel bad at this, beating up a kid, because it was justly deserved. This man, boy now, had gotten him fired. He had left him without a job and with a bad reputation. Now he was able to repay him for what he had done even if the boy didn't know it yet.

Back in the lab Abby had been looking through the flash drive and had just found a deleted folder. Deciding it might be important she went about opening it and finding out what was hidden in its different files. She clicked the first file and watched with growing horror.

"Gibbs! Gibbs!" Abby burst into the bullpen in a rush. Her pigtails swishing about as she frantically looked around for Gibbs. Tony looked at her worriedly.

"What happened Abby?" He asked. Not answering him she kept looking around getting more worried by the second.

"Where's Gibbs?" She asked looking for the boss worriedly.

"He went to get a cup of coffee about" At this Tony glanced at his watch. "About an hour ago" hearing this did nothing to soothe Abby's nerves.

"You mean you haven't heard from him in a whole hour!" She yelled. Tony and Ziva looked at her worriedly.

"Are you okay Abby?" Ziva asked. While an hour was a long time to be gone when getting coffee it was nothing to worry about, at least in her opinion.

"Am I okay?" Abby asked incredulously. "No I am not okay, Gibbs is gone and no one is looking for him, quick we have to get a bolo out. What was he wearing?" She was so worked up and into her rant that she didn't notice the person she was looking for come up behind her.

"Bolo for who?"

Turning around Abby gave Gibbs a strong hug. "Thank God you're here Gibbs, I was worried that you wouldn't be here and when I heard you were gone for a whole hour I got even more worried. But that was silly I shouldn't have worried since you're Gibbs and will always be here right?" Her words ran together as she let out all the panic she had been holding in earlier. Gibbs for his part looked confused and turned to look at the others. At their shared confused looks he figured they knew the same as him as to what had upset Abby. Which was to say nothing at all.

"Abby" He tried disentangling himself from her firm grasp.

"Yes?" She finally let go of Gibbs and stood in front of him instead.

"What got you so worked up?" He asked. It wasn't normal for their bubbly goth to get worked up over him not being there in an hour. Getting her bearings again Abby recounted just what exactly had made her run to the bullpen.

_Abby had just opened one of the deleted files. This file had been a video labeled house #1 and had caught her attention. The video started out with everything black with a few blurry shapes but as the camera zoomed in it could be seen that it was night time at someone's house. Looking closer she could see that it not just any house but Gibbs' house. The person carrying the camera did not make any noise as it was completely silent save for the footsteps that could be heard. The person seemed to be moving towards the house. Abby watched with fear as the person came into Gibbs' house. The intruder went so far as to walk into and tape the different rooms and objects. Then as easily and quietly as the person came in he or she came back out and the video cut off. _

_The rest of the videos were about the same the most disturbing ones however were the ones that showed Gibbs at work. The most recent one was of their last case before Tim's accident. This one was even more disturbing. _

_The video started out with a zoomed out view of Gibbs and the team. The video cut and started up again. Now the person seemed to have come closer as now she could see the team clearer. The camera could not have been more than a few feet away from them. Either Gibbs and the team were blind or their suspect was good, real good. _

As soon as Abby finished up her tale Gibbs was deep in thought. He was sure that if he had seen Steemer's face he would have remembered. There was no way that he would have not noticed him videotaping them. Could it be that their suspect had an accomplice. If so this had just made things much worse.

Tim was cold. He was shivering and rubbing his arms in an attempt to keep himself warm. Earlier one of the man's minions had come and hosed him down. The water was freezing to say the least. That and coupled with the fact that the room had no heat of its own made him feel like he was going to get hypothermia and freeze to death.

He was glad that a small blanket had been included in the room. Thankfully the blanket had somehow managed to miraculously escape getting wet and was still able to provide some heat. After all a ratty blanket was better than no blanket he reasoned.

Stretching his legs which had been freed same as his hands when he'd been hosed he was able to give some relief to his cramping muscles. Speaking of cramping, his legs weren't the only thing cramping. After three days with nothing to eat his stomach was protesting its emptiness. The only thing that he got was water and that was just because they needed him alive. He briefly wondered how long someone could live without eating. Was it three days, or five? Next time he saw Ducky he would remember to ask him. Although the next time he saw Ducky he would probably not have time to ask him anything, especially if his treatment at this oh so wonderful place continued to be the same. The elderly doctor would probably force him to rest and not strain himself. While his body didn't ache as much his brain having replaced the aches with cramps and shivering, he did have painful looking bruises all over his body. He was sure he had broken at least two ribs and bruised a few others. Thankfully he had managed to not get a concussion, although he did have an extremely painful headache. He was practically the textbook definition of pain.

Admittedly he had caused himself more pain than was probably necessary with his snark but who could blame him. After all if someone were kidnapped and beat up wouldn't they be in a bad mood too. He sure was.

He let his mind run astray so that he didn't think of later. In the few days he had been here a routine had been made. Ask him if he'll say yes then beat him up with a promise of more to come. After a few hours of peace ask again and beat him up till he passes out. The cycle would begin again the next day. Now though they had beaten him, left him alone for a while, hosed him, and then left him alone yet again with more threats until he talks. They must have gotten bored after producing no results. Sadly their boredom was affecting him more than them.

He just wasn't sure how much longer he could stand this. He knew they were trying to keep him alive with as much pain as possible. He didn't know why they wanted to know how much the team knew but he sure wasn't going to tell them. He would stay faithfully loyal until Gibbs and the rest of the team found him.

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><p>Read and Review :)<p> 


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:** Wow such a long time since I updated and I can't even begin to give an excuse just school? Anyways I will begin to update my stories more often. Sorry for the long wait and I hope you like the chapter. :)

**Disclaimer:** Still don't own NCIS or its character

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><p>Gibbs sat at his desk in solitary silence. The team had left home a while ago per his orders. They hadn't wanted to leave but he had pointed out that they were no help to Tim if they were half asleep. Grudgingly they had left accepting that Gibbs was right.<p>

Now Gibbs sat at his desk pondering over what he'd been told.

So far it seemed that Steemer had been aiming for him the whole time. So why had he taken McGee instead? It made no sense. Of course nothing about that man made sense. Turning a grown man into a teen for example also made absolutely no sense, at least in his opinion.

Gibbs shook his head. He would never understand how psychos worked and what went on in their head. He would leave that to the psychiatrists; let them have a field day trying to dissect their latest crazy. Better than having them trying to get in his head every few months for a mandatory psych eval. No one in the team liked them not even Tim and he was agreeable on most things.

Thinking back to the object of his current mood Gibbs sighed. He wondered how Tim was feeling at this moment. Was he okay? Gibbs shook his head. Of course Tim wasn't okay, he was covered in bruises last time he saw him. Who knew what that jerk had done to Tim throughout the rest of the day.

Gibbs got up and paced in his anger. Thinking back to his gentle mannered young agent who would never hurt anyone, only served to anger him more. Why did Steemer have to take Tim? Tim was not made for this.

Gibbs didn't mean that Tim was incapable, oh no, in no way did he mean that. Regardless of what others thought he did not consider Tim to be a weak link in his team. Tim was strong in his own way. While he didn't possess the outward boldness that Tony and Ziva even Abby exhibited, he had his own hidden reserves of strength and bravery. Those reserves were what had helped keep the team together for such a long time.

No, what Gibbs meant had nothing to do with bravery or strength.

Tim was his youngest. Plain and simple. While Tony and Ziva had been hardened by their previous experiences, Tim was not. Tony was a former cop and Ziva a former Mossad officer. Both tended to view the world as it was. They knew of the dangers lurking around and of ulterior motives.

Tim on the other hand was not as well known in this. While their resident computer genius was anything but dumb, he was just not well learned in street smarts. While his time at NCIS had taught him more about the outside world his naivety still shone through on occasions. Sometimes leading to facepalms and are you kidding me? looks.

If Gibbs had to admit it to himself he would say that while it exasperated him sometimes, it was one of the many qualities he admired in Tim. Even after all he had seen he still strived to see the good in people. He was still innocent to the horrors of the world.

With his wide eyes and expressive face taking in everything around him, absorbing everything like a sponge. Gibbs smiled; now that Tim was his younger self he seemed much more innocent. He was a happy, carefree boy who seemed to have no care in the world.

The only time Gibbs had seen him sad was after the recent death of his parents. Still even then he had gotten back up with the help of the team. Gibbs himself had held him and soothed his fears much like a father would with a child. He knew that Tim had needed that comfort even more now that his parents were no longer available. Gibbs was only too happy to comply. He considered Tim family as much as he considered the rest of the team as family too.

Family was important to Gibbs. No one and absolutely no one messed with his family.

Gibbs set his mouth in a firm line. He would get Tim out of this predicament. He had promised Tim and he never made promises he couldn't keep. He was going to find his youngest he would make sure of it.

Sitting at his desk Steemer smiled. Keeping an eye on the camera he watched the young boy in the room. He sat there passively sipping his coffee as said boy shivered and hunched up trying to keep warm. He knew he had made the best choice in using Agent McGee for his experiment.

Tim sat in the bed shivering so much that he wasn't sure if his muscles were sore because of the restraints or his shivers.

He tried to keep his mind on anything other than the ever present cold that he felt permeate his very self.

He thought back to the team and how they had all rallied around him when he was down. Gibbs especially seemed to understand that Tim needed to adjust to everything and had helped him when he had felt his world fall apart.

Tim thought back to this and promised himself that he wouldn't fail Gibbs. He would keep at it and make the team's time worthwhile.

With these final thoughts in place Tim slowly gave into exhaustion and fell into a much needed sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N:** Thanks for all the reviews, favorites, and alerts! Hope you like the chapter :)

**Disclaimer:** I do not own NCIS or the characters within.

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><p><em>Creak<em>

_Shuffle_

_Slam_

Hearing the loud noise Tim woke up fast. Looking around he noticed that someone had left food by the door. His first thought was that it was a trap of some kind. Suspicious he looked around once more before deciding to take the chance and eat the food. He had a fifty-fifty chance, it was better than starving to death.

Swinging his legs over the side of the bed he pushed his body up with his hands and …. _Oof! Well that was one way of getting off the bed. _Getting up was much harder than he had anticipated. Picking himself up from the floor would be much harder now that he had jostled his bruised body.

Turning his head towards the door he groaned. It seemed he'd have to crawl there because there was no way he was going to get up and walk there. It seemed hunger won out over dignity.

After an excruciating five minutes he finally reached his goal. The plate of food was sitting there innocently waiting for him. All in all it wasn't anything grand, definitely not a five course meal by any stretch of the word, but it was good enough for him. Digging in he grabbed the sandwich and wolfed it down as fast as he could. It was only when he had about a fourth left that he slowed down. Part of his head told him he should probably save some as he wasn't sure when he would be fed again. The other part of his head (his stomach) that was currently dominating just wanted to eat and now.

In the end his stomach told his head to shut up and finish the food. No sooner had he stuffed the rest of the sandwich into his mouth than his captor had come back in the room.

'_Great, just great' _he thought. _Let the festivities begin._

"I see you finally decided to take the chance and eat the food." He chuckled. The sound made Tim shudder as his face turned apprehensive at the words.

Receiving no response he continued. "You know I was unsure as to whether or not you would actually chance it or starve to death, given the alternative." This did nothing to alleviate Tim's fear as his face turned stark white.

Sighing, Steemer continued. "Timothy if I wanted to kill you I would have done so before, I certainly would not poison you."

Heaving a great sigh of relief Tim felt the color come back to his face as he noticed with embarrassment that he was still in his previous position lying sprawled on the floor. Seeing the embarrassment flood Tim's face Steemer bent down and with a smirk picked him up and brought him back to the bed. Tim was confused as to what exactly was happening.

At the confused glance Tim sent his way he responded with a sigh. "It's unnerving to see you lying on the ground."

"It's unnerving?" Tim exclaimed incredulously. "You and your guys come and beat me up three or four times a day and leave me half-dead, walking away with a smirk and now you decide that it's unnerving!" He knew that yelling at the man who was essentially his jail keeper was not the smartest idea and could probably lead to another beating, but he had enough.

Steemer shrugged. "That's different" In reality he had no qualms about beating up the kid every once in a while, okay pretty much every day, but this time it was different. His whole plan involved having the kid alive and getting back at Gibbs. Seeing the kid lying on the ground he looked half-dead as he had claimed. He hated the kid and his boss but he wasn't about to kill him and lose the only leverage he had.

Tim felt his anger rise up as Steemer shrugged and gave his response. Just who did he think he was anyways? Seeing the lack of response only served to anger him even more.

"What do you mean it's different?" He questioned.

Steemer just shrugged again giving one last look back as he walked out the room. This seemed to snap Tim out of his stupor as he yelled out. "What are you talking about?"

Left alone in the room he yelled. "Answer me you bastard, what do you want?" He kept yelling things at the closed door until his throat got dry and he stopped. He was confused as to Steemer's actions. Just what was going through the man's head and why hadn't he said or done anything, at the least it should have gotten him beat up. Make no mistake it's not that he wanted to get beat up, because that was painful, but he was nervous and confused as to what Steemer was up to.

Steemer watched with a smile on his face as Tim yelled out insult after insult until his voice cracked. He saw the moment the boy slumped down and stared at the door with a look of confusion and _was that nervousness?_ crossing his face. He could almost feel the apprehension that Tim radiated as he nervously stared at the door fiddling with the edge of the tattered blanket.

Steemer watched all this with an expression akin to glee. This was all working according to plan. The boy was becoming confused and scared as to the sudden change. After a week of questioning the boy and receiving no answer or change of attitude Steemer had gotten angry or rather angrier. Using his limited knowledge of college psychology he knew that such a drastic change would throw Tim off in a loop. Not that he wouldn't keep up the questioning per say, but it was time to change the tactics.

It wasn't working, nothing was yielding results. He had his whole team running ragged trying to find his missing agent, but there were absolutely no leads as to where they could have taken him.

"Do you have anything new for me?" Gibbs asked his senior field agent.

Tony slowly shook his head. "No boss, we've tried everything but we can't seem to find him." He answered.

Gibbs turned his attention to the cyber geek Vance had sent them. Seeing the glare Gibbs sent his direction had the man babbling out an explanation. "I'm sorry sir, I'm trying to get a fix on the location but it seems to jump all over the place and I can't find out where it originates from."

Gibbs slammed his fist on the desk. "That's not good enough"

Leaning towards the man's desk he got in his personal space and harshly grit out. "I don't care what search thing you have to do or what program you use, I want answers now!" Turning around he looked at Tony and Ziva. "The same goes for the both of you. Every minute you all spend here sitting around without a single answer Tim is God knows where getting the crap beaten out of him."

The moment the words had left his mouth he knew he had gone too far.

Tony stood in the middle of the bullpen gaping at him with a mixed expression of hurt and sadness. Ziva stood next to her desk with a similar expression, hers a bit more stunned at the accusation Gibbs had thrown their way.

Seeing the stunned and hurt looks on his team's face he huffed headed towards the elevator. "I'm going to see Abby."

As soon as the elevator doors closed Tony got up and almost ran to the bathroom. Splashing water onto his face he heard the door open and saw Ziva enter the bathroom with a concerned look on her face.

"Tony it's not-"

"No Ziva" He interrupted. "Gibbs is right, my best friend is missing he's being held captive and we have absolutely no idea where he is." Shaking his head he bitterly let out. "It's been a week and I still can't find him."

Ziva leaned against the sink and gently but firmly took hold of his hand. "Tony you know it's not your fault. Gibbs is just desperate and worried. That doesn't excuse what he said but he didn't mean it."

Tony shook his head. "Zee…"

"No" She interrupted. "Even you can't make answers fall down the sky"

"Out"

"What?" Ziva asked with a confused glance in his direction.

"It's you can't make answers fall out of the sky not down." Tony answered with a small smile on his face.

Ziva nodded. "Oh, well anyways it is not your fault that Tim is missing or that we haven't found him yet so stop blaming yourself." She rebuked gently with a stern look on her face.

Tony slumped down. "I know that Zee but I can't help but think that if we tried harder we could have found him already." He sighed. "I miss him Ziva, I can't stand seeing him hurt and getting beat up. The kid's too darn small and he looks so fragile and helpless." _And wasn't that right_ he thought. Tim was about a foot shorter and a lot skinnier, not to mention in a whole lot of pain.

_The kid can't protect himself from a Chihuahua right now, let alone a grown man and his lackeys. _

"I can't protect him Ziva and that makes me angry, that I can't have his six while he's clearly in trouble." He exclaimed. "I can't be there for Tim, my friend, my…"

"Brother" Ziva answered knowingly. "It's ok Tony I know and it makes me angry too to see those men harm Tim while he is defenseless." She looked straight at him. "That's why we must go back and get to work so we can find him sooner."

Tony straightened up. "Yeah Zee lets go find that SOB and bring Tim home. Thanks" He turned around and walked back out.

Ziva nodded as she was left alone in the bathroom. "Don't worry Tim, we will find them and they will pay for what they have done _akh katan_ (little brother). She promised before following Tony and returning to the bullpen in search of some answers.

Answers, that was what had caused Gibbs to blow up at his team. He knew that Tony and Ziva were doing all they could to find Tim. He knew it was unfair to yell at them and accuse them like he had but he couldn't stop himself as he found that a week later and they still had no answers.

Rubbing a hand over his face Gibbs thought. _It's not their fault; they don't deserve those harsh words._ He would have to make sure they understood that it wasn't their fault. Right now he had to go see if Abby had anything new.

Tim was wondering if this was all part of some new plan of Steemer's. His men had come in and questioned him and very painfully beat him up, and then left him alone. After what he guessed was about an hour or two, he really wasn't sure since there were no clocks in the room, Steemer had come in.

In reality the whole encounter had freaked him out quite a bit as he wasn't sure what Steemer had in mind. Was it some sort of good cop bad cop routine? If so he was getting confused.

He recalled the past few minutes.

_Tim was lying in bed face up with his good arm cradling his ribs. After his last Q&A session he had at least twisted if not broken an arm. And it happened to be his left one too. He had noticed with unease that the brutes seemed to enjoy causing him pain. Any little thing he said or did was warrant enough for pain that would make grown men scream. _

_He was so absorbed in his musings that he jumped at the sound of the door slamming. Wincing he raised his head and noticed Steemer walking towards him. He suppressed the urge to groan as he carefully levered himself into a sitting position. _

_If he wasn't sure he would get a concussion Tim would have banged his head against the wall. Why oh did he have to show up now, of all times? Why?_

_Steemer came to a stop about a foot from the bed. "Moving like that can hurt your ribs you know." His voice rang smugly throughout the room. _

_Out of breath and indeed in pain Tim only glared as he bit back whimpers of pain. _

"_You seem to get yourself into a lot of trouble." He said. "This could all be spared if you just told us. Just a few questions and a few answers. What do you say?" _

_Tim finally looked up his eyes locking with the other man's eyes. "I'm not telling you anything you bastard" He grit out through clenched teeth. _

"_Tsk, tsk now that's not very nice" He said. "After all I came here to help you." _

_As he took a step towards him, Tim recoiled back. This seemed to amuse Steemer. _

"_Jittery aren't you?" With nowhere else to go he sat stock still until Steemer raised his arm. Seeing him raise his arm Tim visibly flinched. _

_Laughing Steemer slung an arm around him like they were old buddies. "Relax, I'm not hurting you" _

_Tim looked up at him with a murderous expression on his face. "Go to hell."_

_Steemer seemed a bit surprised but recovered quickly and schooled his features back to the nonchalant, devil may care attitude he was sporting. _

"_So deal or no deal?" He questioned. _

_Tim's muttered insult was answer enough. _

"_Suit yourself" He shrugged. "Food'll come around in while." With that he turned and left without another word. _

Now, Tim was wondering what the heck had just happened. He knew that he had insulted Steemer enough to the point where he should have gotten punched or a slap at the very least. Tim had noticed with satisfaction that even though Steemer hadn't acted like it, Tim had managed to get under his skin.

Yet he didn't do anything. Now _that_ was unnerving.

It was like Steemer did a complete 360. He didn't know what Steemer was playing at, but if there's one thing Gibbs had taught him it was that: if something's too good to be true then it probably is. And Tim suspected that if Steemer had something up his sleeve.

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><p><strong>AN:** Don't worry about Gibbs, I know he seems like he's being an ass but he's just worried about finding his missing agent.

Read and Review :)


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: **Thank you to all of you who read, reviewed and/or alerted. :)

**Disclaimer:** I do not own NCIS or any of the characters within.

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><p>"Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs!"<p>

Gibbs smiled at the friendly Goth's frenzied energy. "Whoa Abby calm down what is it?"

Abby closed her eyes and took a deep breath her pigtails swishing around her face as she swung on her heels. Once she opened her eyes her whirlwind energy seemed to come back as words gushed out of her mouth. "Gibbs you know I am so glad you got here and I seriously think that you have ESP no matter what others say because I was so going to call you and"

"Abbs" Gibbs gave her a pointed look.

"Sorry, Anyways I was going to tell you that I examined the flash drive and the new CD he sent us and was able to lift off some prints."

"Like fingerprints?" Gibbs asked.

Abby shook her head. "Unfortunately no bossman the guy probably wore gloves, but never fear because my baby was able to find the carbon residue left behind on the cd. It was just a tiny smidgeon but it was still found." She stated proudly.

Gibbs looked at her with a blank look on his face. "That means"

"That means Gibbs that it could only be left behind by someone who has handled or worked with that type of carbon which is used for the newer car models." She explained.

"So this means it can be any mechanic"

"No Gibbs it means it has to be someone with access to the newer car models meaning car models not yet on the market. This means we're looking for someone with connections or who works at the place where the chemicals used for cars are made."

"So do you know what companies use this yet?"

"Of course Gibbs I've got the list here it's about two or three companies."

"Good work Abs" Gibbs gave her a peck on the cheek and was about to leave when he heard her ask.

"Gibbs have you gotten any new packages."

Gibbs shook his head. "Sorry Abs nothing, how about the link he sent?"

This time Abby shook her head. "Nope nothing for two days I'm getting worried Gibbs."

_Me too _Gibbs thought but he couldn't tell her that or she'd freak. "Don't worry Abs we'll find him."

The worried Goth nodded. "You find Steemer and throw his ass in jail Gibbs." she stated. "We'll all make sure of that." With a determined look on her face Abby turned around and went to work. She waited until the door closed behind him before she turned around and sighed. She felt her shoulders shake with suppressed emotions, but kept on working. It wouldn't do anyone any good, especially Tim if she were to break down and cry. But it was so hard, Timmy was her best friend. He was one of the few people who understood her when she spoke science-speak and she understood when he spoke tech-speak. They were awesome science buddies.

"Oh Tim where are you?"

Tim currently was sitting in the bed. He had been left alone for a while and took that time to look around the room. He'd noticed that there was a camera set up in a corner of the room. While that disturbed him a bit, it also gave him hope. If Steemer was filming him, then he was probably streaming or sending it to Gibbs and the team. This meant that he would be able to send out a clue.

Cautiously he started searching the room, his eyes roaming over the walls and ceiling. Seeing no windows he suspected he was in a basement of some sort, although he could just be in a windowless room. He shook his head; he needed to find more clues. Hearing the door open he stiffened, yet forced himself to observe his captors for clues.

"Are you gonna speak now?"

Tim took this time to try to look out the door. See if he could observe something he'd missed before.

"Hey I asked you a question."

Tim didn't even deign the man with a verbal answer. He just shook his head as a reply. He had said no every time before, and he wasn't going to answer any differently now. As expected the man threw him to the ground and gave him a kick. Tim groaned but then quickly suppressed it as something caught his eye.

"I'm getting tired of your attitude punk, why don't you just answer." The man gave him another kick. "I can't even go back home because I'm needed here. Don't see why you don't just spill, spare me having to cross the creepy forest every time I wanna eat lunch."

Tim rolled his eyes before stiffening in surprise. Did the man just inadvertently give away information as to their location? Dredging up some nonchalance that he didn't feel, Tim shrugged. "Not my fault you have to cross a creepy forest. Not my fault you have to get stuck in heaps of traffic either."

The man scoffed. "Traffic? That's not the worst of it. You know how heavy the interstate gets during lunchtime. Especially when going south, oh no because you're holding me up here. Instead of taking me about fifteen minutes it takes me half an hour to an hour, all because of you." He finished off with a last vicious kick before walking out the door in a huff.

Tim slowly sat up; mindful of the new bruises he now had courtesy of the man's boots. Gently he levered himself off the ground, using his arms to pull himself up to the bed. After crawling on he grabbed the ratty blanket and wrapped himself in it. Laying on his side he took a deep breath and after suppressing a wince of pain let out a smile.

The man had mud on his shoes, but the rest of him was dry. Now Tim knew three things. He was near a forest, a body of water, and fifteen minutes off the interstate. He was sure he knew where he was.

Now he'd only wait for the next time Steemer came to record, so he could send the message out to Gibbs. If his suspicions were correct, he'd be out of here in no time.

"Long time no see Team Gibbs"

"What do you want?" Gibbs growled. He was in no mood for the man's games. He wanted Tim back, and he wanted him back now.

"Now, now Agent Gibbs I'd think you would want to be more polite considering I have your agent in my grasp." Steemer let out a smirk. Gibbs reigned in his anger. He could get angry later; right now he'd have to see what the psycho wanted.

"Now that's better." Steemer cocked his head. "No need to worry, me and agent McGee have been getting on real nicely haven't we?" He questioned turning the attention toward their missing agent. All of the present team members and Abby gasped as they saw their missing member.

"Timmy?" Abby had been dying with worry as they hadn't gotten feed or videos for three days. Now though, she wished she had known what had been happening.

"A-Abby?" Tim was lucid for once and stared at the team in the camera. He could see their worry and felt even more anger with Steemer for causing his team, his family, to feel pain on his behalf. He could see the normally goofy Tony stare back with a serious expression. Ziva and Gibbs seemed to settle for death glares aimed towards his captor.

Abby blinked back tears. She'd be strong for Tim. "Yes it's me Tim. How are you?" It was more asked out of need of consolation than of actual need to know. Anyone could tell that Tim was doing badly. Tim grimaced and gave a shrug. He winced as his ribs reminded him that the action was unwanted.

"Well Agent McGee don't you gave anything to say to your team?" Steemer mocked.

"Water, lots of water" Tim stressed the sentence, his large green eyes pleading towards the screen. His legs sprung back and forth on the bed as his hands fiddled with the bed nervously.

Steemer looked just as confused as them at the message before shrugging. "Well you heard him he's just fine and dandy apart from being dehydrated. Until next time" Ignoring the team's reaction he cut off the feed and turned to Tim. "Next time I won't be as nice Agent McGee." With those last ominous words he angrily stalked off and out of the room.

McGee just suppressed a smile. Gibbs and the team would figure it out, he had great faith that they would. It was now all just a matter of time.

Back at the lab Gibbs and the team stared at the feed perplexed. Tim's sentence had been too random, too strange for it to be a simple request for water. Gibbs examined the feed closely. Watched as Tim shifted on the bed and fiddled with the blanket. His fingers moved erratically and seemed to wait!

"Rewind the video Abbs" The lab rat stared confused at his request but complied. Gibbs stared at the screen intently once more. His mouth moved and his fingers tapped in synchrony with those on the screen. Running though it once more Gibbs let out a smile.

"That clever kid" He laughed. "He managed to send us a message right under Steemer's nose."

"What'd he say boss?" Tony asked frantically. Gibbs shook his head as he smirked.

"He tapped out forest." Then Gibbs smile became even wider than it already was "He told us water, lots of water he's probably near a-"

"River" Ziva let out a wide smile at the information. "Tim made sure to figure out where he was most likely at so he could send us the message."

Tony let out smile at Ziva's words. "I think I know just the place." All of the agents in the room gave a slight smile at Tony's words.

"Then what are you all waiting for!" Gibbs barked out. "Pack your gear and move it." As the agents scrambled to gear up Gibbs let out the first real smile he'd smiled in a while. "Let's get our boy."


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: **Thank you to all who read, reviewed, followed, and/or favorited this story! I am trying to finish my stories, and this one is the one I am trying to finish the first. Next chapter should be up by next week.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own NCIS or any of the characters within.

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><p>"Drive faster!"<p>

Tony stared at Gibbs wide eyed. "Uh boss"

"What!" Gibbs turned his icy glare onto the man beside him. Tony gulped and shook his head. There was no convincing Gibbs or talking to the man, not when he was like this. Gibbs turned his attention back to the driver. "Can't you go any faster?"

"Believe me Gibbs I am pushing this car to the most it can go and then some." Ziva tried pressing the gas pedal to no avail. The pedal was already all the way down and the car was at its max. "I'm trying Gibbs." The former Mossad officer held the steering wheel in a death grip as she zipped about like a bat out of hell, through the busy streets.

"Well it's still not fast enough." Gibbs barked out. "The longer we take to get there, the longer that Tim's in that monster's grip." The other two occupants of the car tensed at the truth held in his words.

"We'll be there soon Gibbs." Ziva reassured Gibbs. Whether it was for his or her own benefit she didn't know. Gibbs seemed to get the message though as he relaxed just the slightest bit.

"I know Zee" Gibbs rubbed a hand over his face. "I just can't stand not being there yet."

Ziva nodded. Staring straight ahead at the road in front of her the female officer let a small bitter smile out. Yes, Tim was still in Steemer's hands. Who knows what was happening to their young colleague at the moment, but they were finally coming to save him.

_Let's just hope that Tim's clues led us in the right direction. _

Ziva felt anger whirl within her as she thought about the position Tim was in. Tim – sweet, trusting, friendly, always ready to help when needed, was being beaten and tortured by a psychotic maniac all because the man had been arrested for his own doing. The man had played them all from the very start. Steemer had been the one who had committed a crime on a naval officer knowing that their team would be the ones to answer the call. He had been the one to send his men out to distract Tony while grabbing Tim and injecting him with his concoction. The very same one that had made their young agent even younger than before.

An involuntary smile came to her face as she recalled the way a younger Tim had acted towards everyone. She fondly remembered the memory of him and Tony having a pillow fight and wrestling about like a couple of children. It had been a rocky time, but he had been safe. Or at least he should have been. Ziva gripped the steering wheel even tighter. This time they had not protected Tim hard enough, but next time she would make sure that he wouldn't slip out of their fingers. With that thought in mind, the ex-Mossad officer gave a stern frown before pressing even harder on the gas pedal.

She wouldn't slow down until she got to Tim.

Gibbs felt rather than saw the moment Ziva got into what they called her deadly assassin mode. Once they had reached the landmarks Tim had pointed out, the female assassin/agent had taken no time to park the car, rushing to take off her seatbelt. Gibbs followed suit and was out of the car before she had even parked. Searching desperately all three members of the team searched the buildings for the one that Tim was most likely in. Gun in hand the MCRT team leader ran across the parking lot as he saw two men dressed entirely in black enter one of the seemingly abandoned buildings.

_Bingo!_

Tony gave a Gibbs a sideway glance. The man was tense as he stared at the drab abandoned building before them. Tony knew that Gibbs was worried about Tim, they all were. Tony especially felt an extreme amount of worry and anxiety rolling off of him in waves as he thought back to how the younger man, uh boy, must be. The last video they'd seen had shown that Tim was still alive, but who knows for how much longer.

_Please _Tony sent up to the sky. _Please let Tim be alive. _

Tim closed his eyes as he breathed deeply in relief. It had been a while since the recording. If he'd sent his clues right, then Gibbs and the rest of the team would be there in no time. He hoped that the team was able to intercept the message he'd sent, because who knows when the next time would be that Steemer would allow him to speak on camera to the team.

_Slam! _

The door slammed open and Steemer strode huffing in anger. His eyes roamed throughout the room before he caught sight of his target. Glaring all the while Steemer made his way over to Tim. "What did you send out to your stupid team?" Grabbing the teenager by the collar he emphasized his words with vicious shakes. "What did you tell them?!"

"Nothing" Tim tried to deny. Cautiously he tried to get out from Steemer grip, but the man had a tight hold.

"Bullshit!" Steemer yelled out. His nostrils flared as he spit out the words in anger. "I find out that your team is just entering the parking lot, and you're telling me you had nothing to do with it?!" The man didn't wait for an answer. Lifting Tim off the bed he shoved him harshly against the wall.

Tim sagged as his poor battered body hit the wall. His body was bruised all over and decided it had had enough. Struggling weakly Tim tried to raise himself up off the ground to no avail. Steemer advanced towards him.

"Ever since you and your baboon of a boss got involved in my business you've been making my life hell." Tim found that ironic given his current situation, but held his tongue. Steemer seemed to be a bit more unhinged than usual. Taking advantage of Tim's defenseless position Steemer directed a strong kick at Tim's torso causing the teenager to gasp in pain.

Involuntary tears of pain welled up in Tim's eyes as Steemer wrathfully kicked at Tim as though his life depended on it. Tim tried hard not to cry out. He'd taken so much more in his time here, but this time it seemed that Steemer was not thinking on keeping him conscious if even alive. The blows seemed to rain down harder than ever before.

"Stop!" Tim had prided himself on not begging for mercy in all his time here, but this was too much. His body was severely weakened and the blows were much too hard. He was sincerely afraid that Steemer was seriously going to kill him if he kept this up.

Steemer seemed to take no consideration as to his struggles or pleas, as he continued his horrible assault. He could faintly hear the sounds of a struggle taking place above them. No doubt the NCIS team complete with Gibbs had come to rescue their boy. It was wrong, he hadn't gotten information out of the boy yet. They couldn't have Tim if he didn't get his information. He wouldn't give them Tim.

"No!" His men were up there fighting against the MCRT, but he knew that eventually Gibbs and his team would win. They seemed to have beaten him last time, and they seemed to now try to do it again. His hired help was okay, but they were no match for a determined Gibbs and co.

"Nghn" Tim's weak groan brought Steemer's attention back to the agent whose life he'd tilted off its axis.

As the sounds of struggle got closer, Steemer got more desperate. Giving one final vicious kick at the prone boy Steemer looked up. "I've been real nice with you mini agent, but no more." Steemer got a crazed look on his face. "If I'm coming down then you're sure as hell are coming down with me."

These words more than anything seemed to make Tim's blood freeze. In all his time here Tim had never heard Steemer speak in such a creepy and dare he say it-frightening-tone of voice. He didn't have much more time to contemplate this change, when he heard the sound of a gun being cocked.

Looking up Tim found himself on the business end of a simple shotgun. He immediately tried to get up, or roll away, but Steemer stopped his movements as he placed his heavy boot on his torso. Raising the gun higher Steemer aimed and…

"Federal agents freeze!"

Three sets of voices rang through the air as three more guns were raised, this time all pointed at Steemer. Tim let out a tiny sigh of relief. His team had come! He knew they would come from the very start.

Seeing the agents Steemer let out a laugh. "Bravo Agent Gibbs, bravo" He glared at the man before him. "Just a second sooner and you would have burst in to rescue a dead body." Seeing the hate filled glares directed his way Steemer merely shrugged. "Of course this way is even better. You get to see firsthand live, as I kill your precious agent Timothy no middle name McGee." His hand got closer to the trigger and the team tensed.

"Say goodbye" Steemer pressed his hand to the trigger and…

_Bang! Bang! Bang!_

Three shots rang out in synchrony as Steemer fell to the ground, dead on impact. Later on, all three reports would state the same thing. Self-Defense. Rushing over the team made their way to their fallen teammate. Although Tim had not been shot, he was still suffering from his many wounds. The sudden beating he'd gotten just earlier had done some serious damage. Once Steemer had fallen dead and the pressure from his chest had lifted, Tim's eyes had rolled back and he'd fallen unconscious.

"Probie!"  
>"Tim!"<p>

"McGee!"

All three agents yelled out to their teammate. Gibbs was the first to reach Tim and as such was the first to determine he was alive. "Call an ambulance Tony! Tell them to get here now!" Quickly the senior field agent rushed to call 911. Ziva knelt down by Tim who was now being gently cradled in Gibbs' lap.

"McGee! Come on stay with me." Gibbs lightly slapped Tim's face until he felt his pulse start to steady. Hearing the struggle to breathe Gibbs rubbed his back and kept encouraging. "Breathe son breathe." With Gibbs' guidance, Tim started breathing steadily albeit harshly as he winced in pain from his ribs.

"Ambulance will be here soon boss!"

Gibbs nodded, but kept his focus on Tim. He could faintly hear Ziva whisper soft prayers in Hebrew and she held Tim's hand. Gibbs kept the steady stream of words to encourage Tim to keep breathing and winced every time Tim winced. It seemed to him that the ambulance was taking forever. Tim would breathe normally for a few moments before harshly gasping for air before curling up in pain and gasping. Gibbs soothed him through the pain easing him into more normal breathing.

"They're here boss!"

Sure enough, the ambulance came and the EMTs were soon running around the place getting Tim secured into a headboard and rolled him into the ambulance. They immediately secured an oxygen mask and started him on IV. Just as they were about to shut the doors, Tim gasped and tried to sit up.

"Kid we need you to lie down."

"Boss" Tim frantically looked around. "Gibbs!" The EMTs tried to gently push him back down but he just struggled harder.

"Hey it's okay Tim. I'm right here." Gibbs gently gave Tim's hand a squeeze. "You're safe now." Seeing Gibbs Tim finally lay down. Gibbs glared at the EMTs. "I'm going with him."

No one argued.

Gibbs kept his hold on his injured agent throughout the whole trip. Once they reached Bethesda, there was a whole flurry of activity as nurses rushed to get the injured teen into surgery. Gibbs went as far as he could, before being told bluntly that he could not go in.

Seeing that Tim was finally getting some much needed medical attention, Gibbs flipped his phone open and gave a few calls informing the team as to Tim's whereabouts and letting Ducky know to come and bring Abby with him. They all needed to be there for Tim.

He would need the support after everything he'd been through, and everyone else needed to see that their recently missing member was safe and sound.

Sinking down into one of the chairs of the waiting room Gibbs finally let out a sigh of relief. This nightmare was over. Steemer was dead and would never again hurt one of their own. But most importantly, Tim was finally safe and back where he was supposed to be.


End file.
